Living Day-to-Day
by cybergirl26
Summary: Barney thinks that he might be able to help Robin, Ted's ex-girlfriend, through the difficult time she is going through. But is he really? Or is he just making matters worse? And what would Ted say if he knew about his bro's agenda? Adult topics.
1. Chapter 1

**I just had the idea for this story and thought I would give it a try. Would love to hear you guys' thoughts :) **

Day 1

It had been three days since they had gotten that horrible phone call. Three days since any of them had joked, laughed or were able to think of anything other than what had happened.

Sitting in this booth, trying for normalcy was probably the worse thing they could be doing. But then again, he wasn't a shrink, what did he know about this stuff?

Lily and Marshall's expressions were blank, Ted's was a mix of worry and anger, and he guessed that his own face displayed something similar.

"We shouldn't do this." Barney finally voiced his concern.

"We got to do something." Ted countered.

"But this isn't a good set-up. Maybe we should go up to the apartment, have a movie night?"

"A movie night? I doubt she is in the mood for a movie." Marshall pointed out.

"She'd certainly not going to be in the mood to sit here while we pity her either." Barney said.

"I think this is good. She has been holed up in the apartment for three days now. Getting out will be good, it won't be easy but this will be a start at getting back to normalcy." Ted said.

Barney disagreed, but it might not even matter, she was already ten minutes late, maybe she wouldn't' show up at all.

She didn't, and Barney really couldn't blame her either. Lily finally went up to check on her, she never came back either.

"Lily told me yesterday that she looks horrible." Marshall finally broke the silence. Neither him nor Barney had seen Robin since that night.

"I don't think she has slept a wink since … Tuesday." Ted commented and added, "she's strong though, she will pull through."

Barney sat back and watched his bro, maybe Lily and Ted were going at this the wrong way. Maybe Robin didn't need to talk about things, maybe them behaving as if she was this fragile person was only making everything worse.

But then again, what did he know? He didn't even know Robin that well. Sure they hung out a lot at the bar, but he was usually busy chasing after girls in short skirts or tight sweaters. Ted had dated her for a year, he probably knew what she needed. And Lily was a woman, she'd must have a better sense of what was right and wrong.

Barney stayed until last call, before heading up to the apartment. He found the spare key under the door mat and unlocked the door, really hoping that Ted was asleep and wouldn't catch him…. Doing what? Sneaking in to see Robin?

He halted and squinted his eyes, this was probably the worst idea of all times. This wasn't his place. And there was a really good chance that Robin would shoot him as soon as he opened this door.

Yet, somehow he knew that this was right. That he could make this situation better, not because he was awesome or witty or anything, just because he could treat her differently.

Shit. He should just go home, he was already in over his head. He was never great at dialing with crises, and he hated feeling helpless.

Yet, Ted's words were stuck in his head, 'I don't think she has slept a wink'. He knew how to fix that, or at least he thought he knew.

Slowly he pushed the door open, the living room was dark.

"Robin? Ted? It's me, Barney." He whispered, still aware that she was probably pointing her gun at him.

He couldn't hear anything, stepped into the apartment and closed the door as silently as possible.

He almost turned around once more when he found himself standing in front of her bedroom door. He knocked as softly as possible.

No answer.

Maybe she was asleep? He should go.

But he had gotten so far, and he needed to know how she was doing. So he turned the doorknob and opened the door a few inches, whispering "Robin? It's me."

He heard her snivel, "what are you doing here?"

She sounded horrible.

"Can I come in?" He asked, silently hoping she would say no, making this easier on both of them.

Instead she turned the light on, he took it as an invitation and pushed the door open.

Robin sat on the bed, wearing sweatpants and an oversized sweater he recognized as Ted's. She wasn't wearing make-up and her hair was a mess, but what shocked Barney more than anything was the look on her face.

She didn't even resemble the strong, independent women he'd known for two years. Instead she just looked … broken.

He swallowed hard.

"What do you want?" she asked again, she had clearly been crying, maybe that's why she hadn't heard him enter the apartment.

"I…" he was speechless.

It made her cry.

He wanted to pull her into a tight hug, of course that would be a cruel endeavor.

They both were silent for a long time, trying to collect themselves.

He finally cleared his throat,

"I … I came because I hoped I could spent the night on this chair." He pointed to the chair next to the door.

"What?" she asked.

"I thought…maybe…I could guard you?" It sounded stupid when he said it out loud.

She still starred at him, puzzled.

"I could watch you while you sleep…not in a creepy way…obviously."

She was still silent and he felt the need to elaborate his plan some more.

"Ted said you haven't slept, I thought maybe it would help if you weren't alone…"

Robin managed a half smile, and Barney felt relieved that didn't flip out on him.

"That's creepy." She finally said.

Yes it was, they didn't know each other that well. Maybe he should have just told Ted to sit with her tonight. Maybe he had crossed a line coming over.

"It'd be dark, it's not like I could actually see you or anything. I would just sit here and… I don't know, protect you?"

Barney wondered what she was thinking, after all she knew him as a womanizer who would never pass an opportunity to get into a girls' pants. Not the best prerequisite for accepting this proposal.

Robin nodded, "I'd like that."

He exhaled, just now realizing that he had been holding his breath this entire time.

"Perfect, I will just sit here until you wake up, okay?" He closed the door behind him and sat down in the chair, immediately noticing how uncomfortable it was.

Robin nodded, and turned around to turn off the light.

Barney wondered whether or not she would actually be able to sleep, his presence would cause most girls not to.

"Thank you Barney." He heard her whisper.

"The best thank you would be hearing you snore all night." He countered.

She didn't answer.

He couldn't tell whether or not she had actually gone to sleep right away, but she certainly was at the break of dawn.


	2. Day 2

Day 2

"Robin? I got to go to work." He had gotten up from the chair but was keeping some distance to her.

She stirred a little before opening her eyes, nodding dozily.

"I can came back tonight if you want me to?" He asked, more to make sure she was awake then to find out whether or not he should come back. He had already made up his mind that he would be back, regardless of what she answered.

"You don't have to do that Barney." She answered.

"I want to though. Just don't tell anyone?" He asked.

She nodded, "right, your image."

Barney nodded too, he was more concerned about Ted's reaction than his image, but he decided not to mention it.

He got lucky, Ted was in the bathroom when he exited her room.

….

Barney called Ted around 4pm, asking how Robin was doing.

"I think she finally got some sleep, but she still hasn't eaten anything substantial. Lily stayed home to be with her." Ted informed him.

"Keep me updated?" Barney asked.

"Yeah, sure, are you coming to the bar tonight?"

"I got a work thing, sorry bro." Barney replied, he was planning on getting some sleep before going over to Robins. He was still exhausted from last night and wouldn't be able to pull two all-nighters in a row.

….

The apartment was completely dark again when he sneaked in around midnight. Good. He really didn't want to be caught by Ted.

Neither Ted nor Lily had called him again to give him another update, which seemed only natural. He was a friend of Robins but not necessarily a close enough friend to call with every detail of her well-being.

He knocked on her bedroom door softly before opening it. The light was on and Robin was sitting on the bed, it looked like she had been crying.

"Hey." He said, closing the door behind him.

"What are you wearing?" She asked surprised.

Barney grinned a little, he had hoped for that reaction. "They are called sweatpants, really confortable, you should try them."

She nodded, "they suit you."

"No, suits suit me, these are just more comfortable to sleep in." He coundeted and placed the big paper bag he was holding on the bed.

"I brought us dinner." He said while sitting down on the chair.

Robin pulled the blanket back, and scooted over.

Barney watched her, Ted was right, she had lost quite some weight.

"Wow, that's quite the assortment." Robin noticed as she pulled different types of burgers and fries out.

Barney shrugged, "I wasn't sure which one you'd like."

"I'm not really hungry…" she started.

Barney nodded, figures, but at least he had tried.

"…but I guess I could eat a little something. Which one do you want?"

"I don't have a preference. Do you want something to drink?"

"Water please."

Barney nodded and sneaked back out of her room and into the kitchen, grinning the entire time like an idiot.

Robin was leaning against the headboard, the food on her lap when he came back into the room.

Barney placed the water on her nightstand, grabbed a burger from the bag and sat back down in the chair.

They ate in silence.

Afterwards he cleaned the wrappers up and settled back in the chair.

"Good night Scherbatsky."

"Thank you Barney." Robin turned the light out.

"Anytime."

"Tomorrow too?" She asked.

He smiled, "yeah, tomorrow too. I was thinking Chinese?"

"Chow Mein for me please."

"You got it." A part of him wanted to shove this in Ted's and Lily's faces. Who was the insightful, sensitive person who got Robin to sleep and eat now? But of course he wouldn't do that. He had to set his ego aside, it wasn't important who won, the only thing that was important was Robin right now.


	3. Day 3

**Thanks for the feedback :) Always great to get some input. **

Day 3

The following day resembled the previous one: He sneaked out after she woke up, called Ted for an update and slept before heading out to go see her.

Ted had mentioned a doctor's visit this afternoon, but Barney figured it had went okay since no one contacted him afterwards. Stepping into Robin's room made it very clear that something didn't go well.

She was even more of a mess than the previous two nights, even though Barney had thought that wasn't possible.

He starred at her a few seconds too long before breaking the silence, "I went all the way to China Town to get you the best Chow Mein in the city."

He wanted to ask what had happened, but he restrained himself from doing so. That was Lily's and Ted's part. He wasn't going to pry anything out of her that she didn't want to share herself.

"I am not hungry… and please go home."

Barney swallowed, the thought that she could ask him to leave hadn't even crossed his mind. He had to comply, anything else would be wrong. This wasn't his place after all. But he also didn't want her to be alone, and he was almost certain that she didn't really want that either.

He put the bag on the table and squatted next to the bed, "look, it's okay if you don't want to eat. No hard feelings. And you don't have to tell me what happened today either. We don't have to talk at all for all I care. Just…please don't kick me out."

"Why?" she looked him directly in the eyes.

That was a good question. Because he felt guilty? Because he thought he knew how to help her? Because he wasn't like the rest of them, and wouldn't push her into something she didn't want to? Like talking, or coming down to the bar.

"I don't know. There is no good reason why you shouldn't kick me out, except maybe that I really don't want to walk around the city in sweatpants right now."

She rolled her eyes.

"I get it, okay. I am a womanizer, and not the trust worthiest guy in the world, some might even say I am a psychopath, personally I think that's a little harsh. _But_ I am also your friend, and as such I really, really want to be here and make sure that you are okay."

"I am not okay Barney." She replied.

"Well…" he started.

"No I am not, I am far from okay." She started to cry again.

Barney swallowed, he really couldn't handle it when people he cared about cried. Never could, never will.

He slowly started unwrapping the food from the plastic bag.

It took her a few minutes, but she regained her composure. Or at least the little that was left of it.

He slowly pushed the Chow Mein in her direction, only looking up when the cartoon bumped into her side.

She was looking at him.

"Chopsticks?" He asked.

She nodded, took the carton and opened it. He was happy to see that the contents were still steaming.

He handed her the utensils, took his own food carton, and sat back down on the chair.

"The Vancouver Canucks won last night." Stupid chopsticks, bites kept falling of right before he could eat them.

"Against the Canadiens?" She asked.

He nodded, "yep. Next they play the Maple Leafs. Have you noticed that most Canadian Ice Hockey Teams have names that refer to their homeland? Kind a odd if you ask me."

"I've never noticed."

"Anyway, I got the sports package now. Ice hockey isn't as lame when watched on a 300 inch TV."

"I gotta check that out some time."

Barney grinned.

"This Chow Mein really is the best I've ever had." Robin pointed out.

"Told ya."

They ate in silence for a minute or two.

"You are a really good friend Barney." She finally said.

He shrugged, "I only do things like this for really awesome Canadians."

It made her smile.

Priceless, Barney thought.

They finished the food, and Barney cleaned everything up.

"Good night Scherbatsky." He said as he settled down into the chair.

"Isn't that chair killing you by now?" Robin asked.

He shrugged.

"You know the bed is big enough for the two of us." She suggested.

It caught Barney off guard.

"I won't bite." Robin grinned.

"It's not me I am worried about." He countered.

Instead of answering she just flipped the covers back next to her.

Barney tried to think this through, but truth be told, the chair was killing him.

"Fine. But if, at any time, you don't feel comfortable with this…"

"Now you sound like Ted."

"Just kick me out." He finished his sentence.

Robin nodded and Barney climbed into bed with her, careful to leave as much space between them as possible.

She turned the light off, and settled in next to him.

Okay, this was weird. If he hadn't crossed the line before, this certainly did.

"Ted dragged some psychiatrist in here this afternoon." Robins voice cracked as she said it.

The words distracted Barney from his own panic attack.

"What?" he asked. Robin hadn't went to some doctor? Instead Ted had pulled a fast one on her by invading her like this?

"He and Lily think that I need to talk about what happened. They think it would help me. So he dragged this guy in here."

Barney had to resist the urge to scoot over and wrap his arms around her, holding her as tight as possible.

"I take it you didn't talk to him either?" Barney asked.

"Phew. Of course not."

They were silent for a couple of minutes, Barney wasn't even sure if Robin was still awake until she broke the silence once more, "I kicked him out…he talked to Lil and Ted in the living room and I eavesdropped."

Barney didn't like where this was going.

"They think I have posttraumatic stress disorder Barney."

"They are idiots, don't listen to them."

"The guy said that it might never go away." Her voice broke and Barney realized that she was crying again.

"Hey…don't…that guy doesn't know you." He tried, carefully reaching out until his hand wrapped around her wrist.

"I hate this person I've become Barney, what if I never get over this?"

"That's the most ridiculous thing ever, you are Robin Scherbatsky, the strongest woman I know. Of course you will get through this. Don't let some stranger tell you otherwise."

"But what if they are right? I mean look at the facts. I haven't left the apartment in days, I am barely eating, I snap at everyone who is trying to help me…" she paused before adding, "I need someone in the room to sleep."

"It's pouring rain outside, no one should leave the apartment these days, Ted is a horrible cook, no wonder you haven't eaten _that_, you always snap at people who are trying to help you, and as of the sleeping thing: Admit it, you just wanted to get the Barnacle into bed."

He could hear her chuckle.

"Thanks Barney."

"You are awesome, please don't let them get to you."

"I'll try. Sleep well."

"You too Scherbatsky."


	4. Day 4

Day 4

Barney could barely pay attention during his meetings, he kept thinking about what Robin had told him the night before, and whether or not he should talk to Ted about what had happened.

He probably should, that way he could prevent future events like that from happening.

But then Ted would ask him how he knew about it, and he didn't want to confess his secret visits to his bro.

He still wasn't sure how to proceed when his cell phone buzzed around 4pm. A message from Ted:

_McLarens 2nite. Robin said she'd come down with us! No one mention anything. _

It made him smile, maybe she was really doing better today? He only hoped that the others wouldn't try too hard to "act normal", the last thing Robin needed was to sit in-between her friends while everyone felt awkward and uncomfortable.

Barney went to the bar early and passed the time until Lily and Marshall showed up by playing on his phone.

"I wonder if she's really coming down." Marshall said as he sat down.

"She will, it was her idea after all." Lily commented.

"Really?" Barney asked surprised.

"Yeah. Now Barney, please don't stare at her when she comes, okay?" Lily instructed him.

"Why would I do that? And why are you telling me that?" He replied, slightly annoyed.

"Well, she doesn't exactly look like herself right now, and you tend to blur things out."

"Trust me Lily, I won't be the problem tonight." He stated seriously.

"All I am saying is that this is the first time you guys see her since…that night, and Robin isn't exactly herself right now. Just be considerate, okay?"

Barney nodded. Lily's concerns were probably valid; the version of Barney they knew would screw this up.

Robin didn't look as bad as he'd expected. Certainly not as bad as she had the previous nights.

She was wearing jeans and a plain t-shirt, which was an improvement from the same pair of sweatpants she had been wearing. The clothes revealed that she had lost quite some weight over the past week.

She'd skipped the make-up and simply put her hair up in a ponytail. All in all Barney thought that she looked very young, and somewhat vulnerable.

"Hey guys, look who is here!" Ted announced.

"Hey." Robin smiled. It was fake, but he was pretty sure that he was the only one who noticed.

Ted pulled up a chair, "Barney?" He asked, nodding towards it.

But Robin scooted into the seat next to Barney, ignoring Ted's effort.

Barney couldn't help but smile when he noticed Ted's confusion. What was Ted thinking? That Robin needed him at her side at all times?

There was a short uncomfortable silence, but Barney broke it quickly.

"We haven't ordered yet, but I was thinking Mozzarella sticks and Nachos as starters?" he addressed his question directly to Robin.

"Or whatever you are in the mood for Robin." Ted said.

"Actually that sounds really good Barney." Robin answered.

"Scotch?"

"Barney we should probably start out with some…" this time it was Lily who interrupted.

"Yeah, I'll take the same you got." Robin said.

Barney couldn't resist, and smirked at Lily.

"So how have you been Robin?" Marshall was clearly nervous, and said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Dude?" Ted interrupted.

Barney waved Wendy over and ordered the food, and Robins scotch.

"I have an interesting case at work right now." Marshall had recovered, and started talking about his job.

Barney sat back, and watched Robin. She wasn't paying attention at all, instead she was looking at a group of girls in the corner booth.

Barney nudged her, "which one would be the easiest for me to take home?"

"Easiest? Probably the one in the middle, but she'd be boring. You should go for the left one, might be more challenging to get into bed, but the effort will pay off."

"Good eye Scherbatsky." Barney realized that everyone else had stopped talking, and noticed that they were starring at them.

"Anyways… Lily, tell Robin about that funny story." Ted steered the conversation into a different direction.

Lily started talking about some boy who ate a bunch of crayons. Robin wasn't paying attention again and Barney was afraid where her mind was wandering to right now.

He placed his hand on her thigh; she was clearly surprised by the gesture and looked down before meeting his gaze and ultimately turning back to Lily.

Ted noticed her reaction, and leaned in to see what she had been looking at.

"Barney, help me get the drinks?" He asked, already out of the chair.

Busted, Barney thought and nodded while scooting out of the booth.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ted asked under his breath as soon as they were a few feet away from the table.

"What?"

"You know exactly what I am talking about. What kind of sick game is this? I better not catch you do something like this again."

"I was just trying to comfort her." He defended himself.

"Yeah right, you were making a freaking move. Seriously Barney, if you ever do this again I'll attack you." Ted grabbed the drinks and headed back to the booth, scooting in besides Robin.

Barney turned to the bar, and instructed Carl to pour him another drink. Maybe Ted was right, he had probably gone too far.

But watching Ted treating Robin like an unpredictable two-year old was sickening. No wonder she wasn't doing great, hanging out with Ted all day had to bring you down.

He really didn't want to be here anymore, but he couldn't leave Robin alone either. They probably had her suicidal by the end of the night with all their sympathy, and appropriate stories, and behavior.

"I appreciate what you were trying to do." Robin's voice startled him.

Barney nodded, "how's the scotch."

"Good as always. Are you coming back?"

"Yeah, I am just waiting for the food." Barney replied.

"No, I mean…" she looked over her shoulder, checking if the others were still sitting in the booth, "…tonight?"

It made him smile, "sure, just let me in when the coast is clear."

Robin nodded, she went to the restroom and Barney noticed how Lily was right behind her.

But they were worried about his behavior, he thought sarcastically.

…

He waited almost thirty minutes before Robin opened the front door and let him in.

"Sorry, Ted was not getting my hints to leave me alone." She whispered as they sneaked back into her bedroom.

Barney couldn't help but smile, the vibe was different tonight.

"Yeah, he worries about you." Barney stated as he threw his jacket over the chair.

"Who doesn't?" Robin asked rhetorically, she was wearing the sweatpants again.

Barney kicked his shoes off and asked, "bed okay for you?"

"Yes." Robin climbed into bed herself.

He let himself fall onto it, closed his eyes and folded his hands behind his head.

"What's wrong?" he asked when she hadn't turned the light off a minute or so later.

"You aren't planning on sleeping in your dress shirt and pants, are you?"

"I didn't bring my sweats, it's fine." He noticed that he was still wearing his tie and started picking at the knot.

"That's ridiculous." Robin shrugged, and got up.

"Where are you going?"

"I will sneak into Ted's room and get you something."

"That's a horrible idea Robin. He is probably still awake, and will think that you need him to comfort you or so, good luck getting out of that number. Or, you'll wake him up while searching, and how are you going to explain that?"

"Okay, plan B then: Strip."

"Pardon?" Barney almost chocked.

"To your boxers idiot. Just sleep in them." She climbed back into bed.

A thousand witty remarks came to his mind, most of them rather dirty.

"I can turn off the lights if you feel uncomfortable undressing in front of me." She teased him.

He propped himself up, "are you drunk?"

"Nope. I just had someone tell me that I shouldn't let other people get into my head about being less awesome." She turned off the light.

"Sounds like a very wise person."

"Well… sometimes."

Barney grinned. He couldn't help but notice how lively she was, now that the others weren't around. It was almost like old times.

"Okay, but no touching." He said as he started to unbutton his shirt.

"Please, you secretly pray for that."

He finally kicked his pants off and snuggled into the blankets, still making sure to keep his distance from her.

"I think you really are a little drunk." He finally stated.

"Yeah, I think so too." She admitted.

Another long pause before Robin broke the silence;

"what did Ted say to you earlier?"

"When?" Barney asked.

"After he ordered you to the bar with him."

"Nothing."

He heard Robin sigh, "don't let him get into your head either, okay? You are the only person who treats me normal these days, and I really can't lose that."

"I won't. Although he was probably right, I shouldn't have done that. I am sorry."

"Screw what's right and wrong. I am so fed up with everyone treating me as if I will fall to pieces if someone brings up a topic even remotely indicating what happened. I am thinking about it constantly anyways, so it almost doesn't matter what you guys do or say."

Barney nodded, well aware that she wouldn't see it. It took him a few seconds to formulate his answer,

"I know, and that's why they are trying to distract you."

He could hear her sigh, and whisper; "that's not how it works Barney."

How had their conversation turned to serious? He really wasn't cut out for these kinds of conversations.

"Thanks for sticking around." Robin finally broke the silence.

"Anytime, Scherbatsky"

…

She screamed, and it scared the hell out of him. He scrambled to his feet, trying to make something out in the dark while his heart was pounding.

"Robin? What's wrong?" his voice sounded rushed and panicked, and he noticed how shaky his hand was as he fumbled for the light switch.

The light was burning in his eyes, but he quickly scanned the room. No one was there.

Robin was crying into the pillow now, and he jumped back onto the bed.

"Robin?" He just reached out to touch her shoulder when the door flew open behind him.

"What the f…" Ted charged for him, pulling him off the bed.

Barney was still too dazzled to really react. Ted furiously pushed him against the wall.

"You sick bastard, what are you doing in her room?" Ted screamed at him.

Barney was still in shock himself, breathing hard. He wasn't surprised when Ted threw a punch.

It hurt like hell.

Ted let go of him, "get out _now,_ or I will call the police."

Barney glanced over to Robin, she was still crying into the pillow. He looked back over at Ted, who was way to angry to listen to him right now.

So he complied.

He got dressed in the hallway, his heart still beating too fast. His nose was bleeding, some drops got onto his shirt. He couldn't care less.

Her scream still rank in his ears as he walked away.


	5. Day 5

**Thanks for all the comments. I'm not sure yet whether or not I will reveal the details of what happened to Robin, I kind of like to keep the mystery up. What do you guys think? **

Day 5

Ted had gotten him pretty good, and everyone at work either starred or asked what happened to him.

It sucked.

And on top of it he was really worried about Robin. For a moment he had thought she was really doing better, but then…. He shook his head, trying to get the thought out of his head.

Ted called him around 2pm. First he didn't want to pick up, but then the thought that something could be wrong with Robin occurred to him and he answered the call.

"Stinson." He said businesslike.

"It's me Barney." Ted stated monotone.

Barney waited, he wasn't going to apologize for last night, and he didn't want to explain anything either.

"I talked to Robin, and I am sorry I hit you."

"How is she?" Barney asked.

"Not good. She freaked out last night, like seriously freaked out. I first thought she had a nervous breakdown, maybe she did, I don't know. It was way worse than even _that _night."

Barney wiped his eyes with his hand.

"She told me that she'd asked you to stay with her. I guess it made her feel safe. Why didn't you tell me Barney? I thought you were molesting her when I saw you almost naked in her bed, especially after her screaming like that."

Instead of answering Ted's question Barney replied, "did you stay with her?"

"You mean last night? No…she kicked me out, I sat in front of her door for most of the night though. She cried – a lot."

"I guess she's not coming to McLarens tonight." Barney said.

"Nope. Barney, I have a question and I'd really appreciate if you answered it honestly." Ted began.

Barney didn't want to promise anything, and just waited for the question.

"Have you guys been secretly hooking up?"

"She's your ex Ted. The bro code states very clearly: No sex with a bro's ex." Barney replied.

"So no?" Ted checked.

"Nope, never."

"Okay, I just thought…it's so odd that she asked you to stay with her. I mean you aren't even that close, you know? Why didn't she ask me? Or Lily for that matter." Ted sounded relieved.

"I clue bro."

"Well, I better go, got a meeting, and then I am going to head home. Lily and I will spend the evening with her, making sure she is okay, you know?"

"Sure. Good luck."

"Thanks. And thanks for staying with her last night."

"Sure, bye." Barney hung up, feeling worse than prior to the call. From the sounds of it Robin was doing worse than before, and Ted wasn't helping by cornering her to talk about it.

He decided to head home, take a shower and maybe go out to a bar later on to pick up a girl.

…

He was expecting the concierge with a package when he heard someone knock. What he didn't expect was Robin.

"Hey."

"Hey." He replied complex.

"I am sorry about last night…can I make it up to you with an overload of butter scotch and cookie dough ice cream?"

Barney was still taken aback by her standing in front of him. She looked…better. _She had blow-dried her hair, was wearing a graphic tee instead of the oversized t-shirt from last night, and he was pretty sure that she was wearing mascara.

"Come on in." He stepped away from the door, and noticed a vanilla scent as she walked by.

"I'm so sorry Ted hit you." Robin said.

"It wasn't your fault."

"It kinda was…anyway, the Canucks are playing tonight and you mentioned a sports package…" She smiled and walked over to his TV.

"Beer?" He asked on his way to the kitchen.

"Yes, please."

"I thought you were spending the evening with Ted and Lily." Barney asked as he got two spoons, and grabbed two bottles form the fridge.

"I snuck out before Ted came home."

It made Barney laugh. He handed her the beer, and sat down himself.

"Cookie dough? We can switch later." Robin asked, handing him a giant ice cream container.

"Dang, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" He asked.

"As a matter of fact, I am, last night almost worked, didn't it?"

Barney nodded, "no kidding. You scared the bejesus out of me."

"I am so sorry." Her tone was light, and Barney wondered where this was coming from.

"Bad dream?" He asked tentatively.

"Yep."

"Wanna talk about it?" he opened the ice cream container, and handed her a spoon.

"Nope."

"Alright then, let's watch some ice hockey. I am a little shaky on the rules so you need to teach me." Barney reached for the remote control and seconds later the bright light of the 300 inch television washed over them.

A little while later her cell phone started buzzing repeatedly.

"Aren't you going to answer?" he asked.

"It's probably Ted." She replied, still starring at the TV.

Barney nodded, "he is probably wondering where you are."

Robin shrugged.

Another two minutes passed.

"He'll worry Robin, you should answer."

"He worries too much. Like seriously, it's what, seven o'clock? I never said I'd meet him at the apartment."

"Robin." Barney tried to get her attention but she kept starring at the game.

He lightly kicked her foot and she finally looked at him, "he loves you."

Robin turned her head back to the TV, "I know."

"Don't torture him like this."

"Then you call him and tell him where I am. You wanna bet he'll show up within the next half an hour?"

"He wants to be there for you."

Robin turned around and faced him, "he can't handle this situation, but that's not my fault. I am so sick of it Barney."

"It can't be easy to have something like this happen to the love of your life, he feels guilty that he couldn't protect you."

"Do you too?" She asked.

Barney thought about it for a second, he didn't want her to think that he was only doing all this because he felt guilty.

"To say I feel guilty would be a bit excessive, but yeah, I blame myself a little for what happened."

Robin ate another bite of her ice cream before answering, "that's ridiculous."

The buzzing of her cell phone seemed to get louder with every second that passed.

"I will tell him where you are, okay?" Barney asked, pulling his phone out.

Robin didn't answer, and Barney dialed his bro's number.

Ted answered right away.

"Barney, now is not a good time, Robin disappeared."

"She's with me." Barney ate another bite of the ice cream himself.

"What? Where? I thought we'd agreed that Lily and I would take care of her tonight." Ted sounded offended.

"Robin came over to my apartment earlier, we are just hanging out."

"By herself?" Ted asked astonished.

"Duh?" Barney replied.

"Wow, she…how is she doing? Does she seem confused?"

"Ted chillax, everything is fine."

"Well, can we come over? We could all watch ice hockey? That way she wouldn't have to take a cab by herself tonight."

"I will make sure she gets home safe." Barney replied.

"Lily and I wanted to talk to her about something important though." Ted still wasn't giving up.

"I guess it's a good thing she's not home then." Barney teased him.

"This isn't a joke Barney."

Barney rolled his eyes and watched Robin who was still starring at the TV. He was pretty sure that she wasn't really following the game.

"Oh wow… Ted I am missing the best part of the game. Listen, don't worry about Robin, and enjoy your night." He hung up.

"You know he won't let you get away with that." Robin said.

Barney shrugged, he wasn't planning on answering the phone anymore.

He'd expected Robin to ask what Ted had said, but she didn't.

They watched the game. Then the news. Then the commentary of the game. Then the news again.

They switched ice cream flavors somewhere in-between the local and the international news segment.

He noticed how she yawned repeatedly during the commentary, but didn't say anything.

Somewhere during the rebroadcast of the news, he'd had enough and asked,

"aren't you tired?"

She shook her head, "nope, you?"

"Well, we both didn't get much sleep last night, and it's already late. I think we should call it a night."

Robin shook her head again, "not tired."

He watched her for a moment, slowly realizing what was really going on, "you don't want to go home, do you?"

She shrugged.

"I'll take you, you know that, right?" he asked.

"I'll be fine by myself, don't go all Ted on me."

Barney nodded, yeah, she was stubborn and strong, and she would never admit it if she felt uneasy about being out by herself this late.

"Is it Ted? Are you afraid that he is waiting up for you?" He asked.

"Of course he is, but no, that isn't it either." She said.

"Well, tell me Robin. I am exhausted, and I really don't want to keep guessing all night."

She shrugged, "I…I'd like to stay."

He didn't answer right away, and she turned around to look at him.

"At the Fortress of Barnitute?" he asked.

"I am getting claustrophobic in my room, and Ted will try to stay with me tonight. You know how he is." She shrugged again, "I really can't handle that right now."

He couldn't help but smile, Robin would rather stay with him then being comforted by her former boyfriend of over a year.

"Come on, I will give you a tour." He said, and turned off the light.

"Some things you might not have noticed about the living room: I have 11 brands of scotch in my bar, the Storm Tropper is awesome, and I got this sword on a business trip to China. Hard to get it through security, I tell you that much."

He noticed that the comment made her grin, and felt encouraged to make this as light and fun as possible.

"If you'd follow me into the bedroom – the room where all the magic happens. 168 satisfied customers." He winked at her, and was relieved when she laughed.

"There are some hidden features, but given the late hour I will just skip those. The second most important room in my apartment." He opened the door to his walk-in closed.

"The infamous suit room." She said.

He nodded, "you can take a closer look, but no touching or flash photography."

"Master bathroom I guess?" She pointed towards the second door.

"Yes. Go ahead, check it out." He opened the drawer of his dresser and pulled out he swaets and a pair of pajama pants.

"You sure like grey."

"Did you know that grey is made up of all other colors? Makes it the most awesome color of all." He dug in the bottom drawer for two t-shirts, and handed her the clothing.

"Thanks, Barney."

He grinned and watched her go into the bathroom.

He decided to send Ted a quick message so he wouldn't wait up,

_FYI – Robin is staying here 2nite. _

This situation was so paradox, she came to his apartment by herself, and trusted to be alone with him. He couldn't help but smile, Ted was probably furious right now.

He changed into the sweats and t-shirt, his phone buzzed as he hung his suit up.

_I can come pick her up, no problem. _

Barney shook his head, Ted didn't get it.

_She isn't a 4 yr old at a sleepover Ted. Don't worry & go to sleep. _

He put his phone on the nightstand, and wondered whether or not Robin had meant sleeping in the same bed again, or if she was expecting him to sleep on the couch.

He was still standing in the middle of the room when she came out of the bathroom, and asked "so where do you want to sleep?"

"It's your bed. You tell me." She was typing on her phone.

"In that case, the right side is all yours."

She didn't look up and he asked, "Ted?"

She nodded, "he wants me to come home."

Barney picked up on her annoyed tone and decided that he wasn't going to let Ted ruin her mood. He grabbed the phone out of her hand, "don't."

She nodded and turned around to get into bed.

Barney went in the bathroom, and read the message that was still displayed on her phone;

_Robin it's Barney, of course he will. I'll be there in 20 min. okay? _

What the hell? He thought, tempted to read the previous message. Instead he just typed,

_Stay were u r, I'll see u 2morrow. Good nite!_

…

Robin was already asleep when Barney climbed into bed. He turned off the light thinking that she really had been exhausted. He also hoped that tonight wouldn't resemble last night.


	6. Day 6

Day 6

Barney got up before the alarm went off, Robin was still asleep and he decided to run down to the bagel shop, to get breakfast.

On the way down he realized that she might freak out when she woke up and he wasn't there. He briefly halted and thought about running back upstairs, but then he kept going, twice as fast as before.

He had to wait in line, which added to his nervousness.

He was more than relieved when he came back into the bedroom and she was still sound asleep. He placed her coffee and the cream cheese bagel on the nightstand, and gently touched her shoulder.

"Robin?" He whispered.

She stirred a little and finally opened her eyes, "yeah?" she asked dozily.

"I need to get ready for work, okay? Your breakfast is right here." He pointed towards the nightstand.

Seeing the hot beverage made her smile, "thanks Barney."

"Sure."

"When do we have to leave?"

"You got 30 minutes, okay? I will hop in the shower."

…

"What a great start in the day, thanks Barney." Robin said when she exited the bathroom.

Barney swallowed his bite and nodded, "any time Scherbatsky."

She smiled, and snatched her shoes from the floor. She was wearing the same cloth from last night and Barney couldn't help but notice how crazy skinny she had become.

"Ready?" He asked after she was done tying her shoes.

She nodded and they headed out the door.

"Have a good day at work." Robin said as they stepped into the bright, busy street.

"I figured we could split a cab." Barney suggested.

"It'd be a detour for you." She pointed out.

"I don't care, come on." He waved a cab over and Robin climbed in with him.

"You know I would have been fine on my own, right?"

Barney nodded, "yeah I know. I'd just really like to see Ted's expression when you are coming home."

Robin laughed, "you like torturing people, huh?"

"Who is the one torturing Ted here?" he countered.

She shrugged, and they were silent for a moment.

"I think today will be a good day." She said while looking out the window.

"I really hope it will."

…

Ted busted through his bedroom door, he must have heard the front door.

"Robin." Ted called out, and halted in his tracks when he noticed Barney.

"Hey bro." Barney greeted him.

"I'll see you later?" Robin asked him, Barney nodded.

"See you Ted." He gave him a quick wave before turning around and leaving the apartment.

The look on Ted's face was priceless, he thought while snickering.

…

Lily called him around lunchtime.

"So, Ted told me that you and Robin have spend the second night in a row together."

Barney grinned, try the fifth.

"So?" he asked while organizing the papers on his desk.

"So, what's up with that? Are you guys dating?" Lily asked.

"Lil, do you really think that Robin is in the right mindset to date right now?" He countered.

"Well, then what is this? Have you made a move?" She kept interrogating him.

"Of course not. We are just hanging out as friends, okay?"

"Friends don't sleep in the same bed Barney. Besides, are you even capable to lay next to a girl without at least trying to have sex with her?"

"As Robin can tell you, yes I am." He replied annoyed.

"Are you planning on sleeping with her eventually?"

"No, of course not. I am just trying to be a good bro. Look, I hate to point this out, but you and Ted are making everything worse by being so pitiful. Robin is trying to escape you guys cause she can't handle it anymore. So maybe, if you two would just treat her like a normal person, she wouldn't reach out to me." Barney explained.

"Barney this isn't healthy, she needs to deal with what happened, and not suppress her feelings by getting drunk and pretending that nothing changed." Lily replied.

"She isn't doing that Lily." He replied.

He could clearly hear her sigh, "we were planning a movie night over at Ted's tonight. Are you coming?"

"Sure."

"And Barney?"

"Yes?"

"You are diluting yourself too, having a girl sleep at your place, and making her breakfast is virtually dating."

"Lil, again, there is nothing physical going on between us."

"Not yet anyways. Mark my words Barney, you are playing with the fire, and I really hope neither one of you will get burned."

…

They were all sitting around the TV, watching some rom-com when he entered the apartment.

"Are there drinks in the fridge?" Barney asked, they nodded.

He noticed the pizza cartoons, and hoped that they had ordered one for him too.

Opening the beer bottle, he looked through door at his friends. Marshall was sitting in the chair, and Ted and Lily hat taken Robin in between them on the couch. She must have sensed that she was being watched, because she looked up and their eyes met.

She looked exhausted, was Barneys first thought. And as if she didn't want to be there.

He pushed himself off the counter, "did you get me a pizza too?"

"Yes, right here." Marshall pushed one of the cartons in his direction.

"Here, you can take my spot." Robin said and got up.

"What? Why?" Ted looked up to her, very surprised.

"I'm tired, and you know I am not really into these kinds of films." She explained.

"We can watch something else sweetie." Lily suggested.

"It's fine, really." Robin tried to smile at them reassuringly.

"Are you staying?" She asked Barney.

He felt every ones eyes on him, "sure."

"I'll wait up for you…or you could just eat your pizza in there?"

Barney smiled, "great plan." He grabbed the pizza and his beer, "night guys."

…

"Thank god. That movie is horrible! I thought I'd never get out of there." Robin sighed as she sank down onto her bed.

"So bad, huh? I guess I should thank you for rescuing me then."

"Duh." Robin stole a piece of his pizza.

"How was your day?" He asked.

"Horrible. Ted stayed home with me." She shook her head. "Which meant awkward silence, way too much comfort food, and a lot of attempts to get me to open up to him."

Barney shook his head.

"Yours?"

"It was fine, the usual."

"You don't mind staying here tonight, right? I know you usually try to make your nights as awesome as possible, and I feel a little guilty that the past week hasn't really lived up to that."

"It was my idea, and no, I don't mind our arrangement one bit. I really enjoy spending time with you."

She smiled, "thanks."

"I also kind of enjoy messing with our friends heads." He added.

"I noticed."

"You do too." He replied.

She shrugged, "I… not purposely, but somehow pretending to be something we are not…pretending to be someone normal, helps."

"I get that."


	7. Day 7

Day 7

Barney woke up when Robin started stirring next to him. He opened his eyes to see what time it was, and was more than surprised when the radio clock showed 9:54 am.

"Morning," Robin whispered next to him.

"Hey," he replied and rubbed his eyes.

"Did I wake you up?" she asked.

"Nah, it's time to get up anyways." Barney replied.

It sounded like someone was cooking in the kitchen.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"For what?"

"For an awesome day, you need to get out of here before you loose your mind. So here is the plan, I will run home, take a quick shower and change, then come back and we will head out."

She started smiling, "that sounds really good."

"I thought so too. What do you think, maybe start out with Brunch?"

"Brunch?" It made her giggle.

"Why not? We can do an early lunch too, your choice. Actually, you pick the restaurant, whatever you want, okay?" He got up, and grabbed his dress pants from the chair.

"I agree, brunch does sound good."

Barney nodded, "an hour enough time for you to get ready?"

"Duh. I'll hop in the shower right now." She got up as well.

"Perfect." He winked at her before leaving the bedroom.

Ted immediately peeked through the kitchen door.

"Oh hey," he said when he noticed Barney, buttoning his shirt.

"Good morning, and see you later." Barney grinned, opened the door and exited the apartment.

He had a feeling that today would be a good day.

…

Ted and Robin were arguing when he came back into the apartment and stopped immediately.

"What's going on?" He asked curiously.

"Nothing, can we go?" Robin asked.

"Sure." He looked over to Ted, who was clearly pissed.

"Well, can I come?" Ted asked.

"Really, to Brunch?" Robin asked, clearly intending to piss him off even more.

Ted just walked off into his room, and Barney raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

"He was planning on spending the day with me." She shrugged, got her purse off the hanger and walked out the door.

…

"So, are you going to tell me why Ted was so pissed?" He asked again once they had ordered.

"I already told you." She replied.

"Nice choice on the restaurant by the way." Barney noted, she had picked a hole-in-the-wall kind that solely served Brunch.

"Well, I figured if we do brunch, then we have to do it right."

"No kidding. I like your dress, by the way." Barney had noticed that she was wearing a sundress right when he had entered the apartment, but didn't want to say anything in front of Ted.

She looked like normal Robin again, perfect hair, and make-up. Ted had probably noticed the change as well.

"Ted didn't like it." She rolled her eyes.

Liar, Barney thought. "He didn't?"

"Well, I doubt he didn't like the dress itself, he just didn't like me wearing it."

Barney grinned, "he's a little jealous, huh?"

"A little?" Robin replied annoyed.

"Well, you are eating brunch with Mr. Awesome." He winked at her.

"Yep, and I am sleeping in the same bed as him too. Which in Ted's words is; 'inappropriate'."

Barney nodded, so that's what they were fighting about.

"Don't let him get to you. It's none of their business anyway."

The food came, and they quickly dropped the conversation and concentrated on demolishing their delicious meals.

…

Barney suggested a museum next. He wasn't big on museums, but it would be air-conditioned, and that was a huge plus when one was wearing a suit in the middle of summer.

"Lily will kill us if she finds out that we went to the MoMA without her." Robin noted as they walked up to the building.

"And Ted will kill us because he couldn't lecture us on its classical revival architecture style."

It made Robin laugh, "someone was listening."

"Horrible, right? Why am I even remembering that?" They had reached the ticket line, which was a lot longer then he had expected.

"You know, I never took you for the art lover kind." Robin pointed out.

"Well, I am not really…I mean I do come here sometimes to pick up chicks."

Someone bumped into Robin, and it clearly startled her.

"How?" she asked, but it was clear that she couldn't care less.

The fun vibe was gone, Robin was tense and looked like she didn't want to be here anymore.

Another person bumped into them as they were trying to get through the lines to their relatives.

Barney reached out, and put his arm around her shoulder. He was a little surprised when she instinctively snuggled up to him and asked,

"can we just get out of here?"

"Yeah, of course." He pulled her even closer to his body as he was trying to get through the crowd.

It seemed to take forever, although it couldn't have been more than 60 feet. He was glad when they finally had some space again.

"You okay?" He asked.

She nodded and stopped clenching his shirt.

"Yeah, sorry. I don't know what that was about…" She was clearly still shaken by what just happened.

"Sorry? You just saved us. We would have starred at paintings all day."

He had hoped for a smile, but instead she started crying.

"Robin…" he felt helpless, and really hated it.

"Hey," he tentatively pulled her into a hug. She didn't resist and he tightened his grip.

"It's okay, everything will be okay." He whispered the same sentence over, and over again, it took a couple of minutes but she finally pulled herself together.

"I am sorry." He could barely hear her.

"That's just silly Robin, you don't have anything to be sorry for."

"Well, there are tear stains on your shirt now." She tried to fake a smile, and Barney laughed.

"There is no coming back from that, you know that, right?" He asked.

It made her smile, "at least the tie survived."

"His name is Rubertus."

Robin smiled, and wiped her tears away. "How can I make it up to you?"

"Well, how about you spring for an ice-cream cone?" he suggested.

She nodded, "I can do that. Where from?"

"I know just the place." He waved over a cab, and pulled her in with him.

…

The nice thing about Central Park was that it was so big, that even on a sunny Saturday you could fine spaces to be alone. So they did just that.

They found a spot under a big oak tree.

"Haha – did you see how that kid just fell?" Barney asked.

Robin shook her head, "missed it."

"Watch him, I bet he'll do it again."

But Robin didn't watch the kid, instead she turned her head around and watched Barney.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing." She turned back towards the kids in front of her.

"Tell me."

She shrugged, "you make everything so easy."

"Glad to hear. So, tell me, what do you want to do after we finish our ice cream?"

She shrugged, "just sit here for a while?"

Barney nodded, "you got it. Hey, we could play a game."

"As long as it's not the "who's sluttier" game you made us all play at McLarens a few weeks back."

He laughed, "how about, we play stitch dog? And the winner gets to decide what we are having for dinner."

…

Robin won, and she wanted to order Chinese for dinner. Luckily, Ted was out when they entered the apartment, so they ordered the food and started playing video games.

Ted, Marshall and Lily came home about half an hour later.

"Good, you are home. We were thinking Shishitzu?" Lily joyfully announced.

"Actually, we just ordered food." Barney replied, briefly taking his eyes off the game. Robin saw her chance, and past Barney's Porsche in a narrow curve.

"Scherbatsky! Uh, I will so get you." Barney yelled out.

"That coming from a guy who doesn't even know how to drive a car." Robin replied.

Lily, Marshall and Ted seemed a little out of place, watching them.

"YES!" Robin jumped up when she passed the finish line. "Loser!"

"Whatever, I let you win anyways." Barney replied.

"Yeah right. Pay up Stinson, dinner is on you."

Barney frowned, and got up. "Why is it taking so long to get here anyways?"

"Where did you order?" Ted asked while taking Barney's seat and the controller.

"Asia Express." Robin replied, while putting her controller down. "You guys should get going, it'll be hard to get a table if you don't get there early."

"Maybe we should just order something as well, we could all hang out here. Hey, how about a Wii Wimbledon re-match?" Ted suggested.

"I am in." Marshall replied.

Lily nodded and took the menu off the counter.

Barney watched the scene; on the one hand he really just wanted to be alone with Robin, but on the other he thought that maybe having a game night wasn't the worst idea.

…

It ended up being a pretty good night. Lily, Marshall and Ted were somewhat distracted by the game and weren't hovering over Robin quite as much. The re-match between Marshall and him lasted almost half an hour, and Barney made sure to make a fool out of himself the entire time.

He loved making Robin laugh. It was priceless.

"That last one was so not out! You bribed the referee, didn't you Marshall? Just admit it." Barney ranted as he sat down next to Robin.

"You saw that, right?" He asked her.

"Yep, so unfair."

"Hey Robin, you wanna play with me against Marshall and Lily?" Ted asked.

"I'll play!" Barney jumped back up. Briefly glancing back to Robin, he wasn't sure whether or not he had just done her a favor, but somehow the thought of Ted and Robin forming a team didn't sit well with him.

…

"Thanks, for this amazing day." Robin whispered.

He was lying next to her again, and the thought that this felt really normal occurred to him.

"See, I told you, you just needed to get out for a while."

"Well…" She sounded sad.

"You do. Hey, let's go jogging tomorrow morning."

"And then Brunch again?" She asked.

"It's a date." He paused when he realized what he had just said. But Robin didn't call him out on it, and he let it slip.

…

It scarred him when he heard her scream; yet, it wasn't as frightening as the other night.

He'd expected it to happen again eventually.

"Robin?" He asked. He heard her cry, and scooted over to her side of the bed.

He hesitated before touching her, thinking that he should probably turn on the lights.

"Robin? It's just me, okay?" He whispered, carefully wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

She didn't budge.

He waited a couple of seconds, making sure she was actually awake before wrapping his other arm around her as well, and pulling her into a hug.

"It's okay, I am right here." He tried to calm her down, but he knew by the way her body was shaking that she wouldn't recover as quickly as she had earlier that day.

The door flew open, and the light was turned on.

"Robin, are you okay?" Ted was standing in the middle of the room. His and Barneys eyes met for a second.

"Robin!" Ted lunged towards them, and Barney reached his arm out to push him back.

"Leave her alone." Barney hadn't really meant for it to come out so hostile, but it did.

It made Ted stop in his tracks, "Robin?"

"Go Ted."

Ted hesitated another second or two before he finally turned around, switched the lights off and left the room.

Barney tightened his grip, and stroke Robin's back, trying to calm her down.

It occurred to him that maybe Ted should be doing this, he knew her so much better, and Ted was a lot more experienced at comforting women.

"Shh, Robin, everything is fine." He kept whispering into her ear.

Ted had been right, this wasn't just crying anymore, she might be really close to a nervous breakdown.

He didn't know what to do and finally just started to talk,

"You know what my mom would do when I had nightmares? She'd usually make me warm milk with honey. Have you ever tried it? It pretty much knocks you out right away. At least it did when I was a kid."

He paused, trying hard to think of something else to tell her. So he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"That one time, I had a nightmare and got up to find her. I eventually did, in the living room, under our neighbor Mr. Choi, back then I had no clue what I had just walked in to. But the image stuck…"

Okay, maybe he should think before speaking.

"I never had a pet when I was little. I always wanted a dog. But I guess every kid wants a dog…"

She slowly seemed to calm down.

"Dogs are good. They will play with you…and protect you." He felt how he was tearing up himself.

This sucked. He wanted to turn back time. Why didn't he protect her? Why her anyways? Seeing her like this made him angry, and he really hated feeling so helpless.

"You got… really strong arms." Her voice was shaky.

He was so glad to hear her talk again.

"How often…. do you…. work out?"

"Couple times a week." It occurred to him that this might be a good topic to talk about, and so he started telling her every detail about his workout routine. The layout of the studio, introduced the trainers, and commented on other people going there.

The sun was already starting to come up by the time he finished, and Robin had completely calmed down and just lay in his arms, listening.

They fell asleep half an hour later.


	8. Day 8

Day 8

10:47 am, read the alarm clock when Barney woke up again. Robin was still lying in his arms, sleeping peacefully.

It occurred to him that he hadn't cuddled with a girl in years. Usually he'd sneak out right after sleeping with them, or if he'd brought them back to his place, he'd kick them out.

Robin's body seemed a thousand degrees against his, and he wondered how she could still be asleep? The summer heat didn't really help either.

The door was carefully opened, and Lily peeked in the room.

"Everything okay?" she whispered. He could smell fresh pancakes, and was immediately aware of how hungry he actually was.

"Get out." He mouthed, and Lily nodded and shut the door again.

It must have woken Robin up, because she started stirring, and Barney loosened his grip to give her some wiggle room.

"Morning Scherbatsky." He whispered once he was sure that she wouldn't go back to sleep.

"Morning." She replied dozily.

"Feeling better?" He asked, while carefully stroking a strand of hair out of her face.

"Yeah…sorry about that."

"Again, you don't have to apologize for anything, okay?" He asked.

She nodded, "thanks Barney."

They laid there for a second before Barney said, "I really don't feel like going jogging anymore. But I think Lily came over and made her famous Sunday morning pancakes, what do you say? Skip Brunch and instead eat those?"

Robin nodded, and started to wiggle free from his arms. "Ted probably called her." She guessed as she grabbed a sweater from the closet and put it on.

Barney propped himself up, "yeah, but hey, pancakes." He wiggled his eyebrows and it made her smile.

"And a discussion about how I feel, and how I need to open up about everything, and talk about that night." She shook her head annoyed.

"Just tell her to leave you alone, Robin." Barney suggested, while getting up himself.

"Have you even met Lily?" Robin asked.

"Do you want me to talk to her?" He asked, while grabbing his pants off the chair and stepping into them.

"Nah, it'll be okay. Just stay until they head out?" She asked.

Barney nodded, "got it."

…

Marshall, Lily and Ted were all sitting at the table. Both Ted and Lily jumped up immediately when they noticed Barney and Robin exiting her room.

"Good morning you two – pancakes?" Lily asked, already half way in the kitchen to make another batch.

"Sounds great." Robin managed to say, she crossed the room and disappeared in the bathroom.

Ted immediately came up to Barney, "how is she?"

"She's great Ted. Never been better in her life. Seriously bro, what kind of question is that?" Barney replied while sitting down.

"Well, you got her back to sleep, didn't you?" Ted continued.

"Now you make it sound like she's an infant I was babysitting." Barney replied annoyed.

"Of course not, but … her screaming like that… it terrified me. I didn't think she'd calm down. How did you do it? I could barely hear her cry last night." Ted asked.

"Did you eavesdrop on us?"

"No…I just wanted to hear if she was okay." Ted explained.

Barney rolled his eyes, "dude, space."

"You two looked cute just now." Lily said as she grabbed the now empty pancake plate off the table. "All cuddled up, who would have thought snuggling with Barney Stinson had a calming effect on women."

She winked at him, and Barney rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, can you guys just treat her normal and not mention last night?" He asked.

Lily and Marshall nodded, so Barney looked over to Ted, he noticed how his best bro was watching him in shock.

"Ted, you too please?" Barney asked.

"Yeah… sure."

Robin came back, and Barney jumped up to go to the bathroom as well, "don't eat them all Robin, guys, make sure I'll get some too. I am starving!"

…

Barney decided to head home after breakfast, he was in desperate need for a shower and fresh suit. Robin followed him out into the hallway.

"You can come if you feel uncomfortable being around Lily and Ted." He suggested.

"Nah, it's fine. They haven't even mentioned last night yet. I will take a long shower too. Just…come back later?" She asked.

He nodded, "yeah, I'll be back this afternoon."

She smiled, and to his surprise, stepped forward and hugged him.

"Thanks Barney."

He wrapped his arms around her back, holding her close, while whispering, "that's what friends are for."

She let go of him, and they smiled at each other one more time before he turned around and started heading down the stairs.

…

The living room was empty when he entered Ted's and Robin's apartment later that day.

He could hear voices out of Robins room, and headed towards that direction.

"Robin, it's better this way." Lily sounded concerned.

Barney stopped in his tracks for a second, listening what was going on. He could hear Robin weep, and took a deep breath. What now?

"Don't touch me." Robin's hissed sharply.

Barney swallowed, and he quickly entered the room. "What's going on?" He asked.

Robin was sitting on the bed, knees pulled up to her chest. Lily and Ted were sitting next to her, Ted's hand mere inches from Robin's shoulder. His expression reminded Barney of someone who had just burned himself.

"We were just suggesting to Robin that getting out of Manhattan for a few days might be a good idea…you know a change of scenery?" Lily explained.

Robin and Barney's eyes met, and he realized that she must have been crying for a while.

He could feel himself getting angry, "why? Why can't you just leave her alone?" He snapped at Ted and Lily, while jumping onto the bed himself, pulling Robin into his arms.

"Don't." Ted tried to stop him.

But Robin didn't, instead she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his suit jacket.

"Why?" he asked again.

"Barney, she can't continue like this." Lily used her kindergarten voice to convince him.

"It hasn't even been two weeks." Barney hissed.

"She needs help." Ted whispered.

Barney shook his head, no she didn't. He could fix this, he was sure of it. All he needed was their friends to leave them alone.

"You don't know what she needs." Barney replied angrily.

"You don't either, Barney! Stop being in denial yourself, you are making matters worse, don't you see that?" Ted got a little louder and Lily padded his arm to calm him down.

"Look, Barney. She needs professional help, what you are doing is really sweet, but ultimately you are just as much enabling her not to deal with it like everyone else." Lily explained.

Barney started stroking Robin's back, thinking about Lily's words. She was probably right. He was enabling Robin to put off dealing with what had happened by constantly protecting her. He buried his head in her shoulder to mask the fact that he was almost crying himself.

"She's getting too dependent on you Barney, she only eats when you are around, only sleeps when you are next to her. This isn't healthy behavior. I know you mean well Barney, I really do, but this isn't the right way to help her." Lily continued.

Barney tried to pull himself together, and loosened the grip on Robin. She clenched his suit to keep him from letting go completely.

"Can you give us a minute?" Barney asked.

Lily and Ted exchanged worried looks, but finally nodded and left the room.

"Are you okay?" Barney asked, while taking her head in his hands and wiping the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs.

"I was doing better, you know I was." She replied.

Barney nodded, "yeah, but maybe they have a point."

"What? No. Barney, no. I don't want to talk about what happened, okay? I just want to forget and move on."

"I don't like this either, okay? If I could just turn back time, and be there for you, I would. But I can't, and you can't just pretend as if nothing has happened either." He replied softly.

"Barney, no, don't do this to me, please." She started crying again.

"I am sorry, I should have never come by that first night." He pulled her into a hug again.

"What? What are you saying?"

"That maybe this whole thing was a mistake."

This time it was Robin who pulled away from him, "you are kidding, right?"

He swallowed and shook his head, "I am sorry Robin."

She starred at him for a few seconds before regaining her composure, "then go."

"Robin…" he started, she turned away from him.

"Just go Barney." She repeated.

He nodded, and got up. "I am sorry." Were his last words before he left the room.

He didn't even acknowledge Lily and Ted sitting on the couch; instead he left the apartment as quickly as possible, slamming the door as he did. Out in the hallway he let himself fall against the wall, starring at the door.

He wanted to go back in, wrap his arms around Robin and never let her go again. But that wasn't an option. He wanted her to get better, truly better. He wanted her to be his female bro again, the one who he could play laser tag and smoke cigars with.

He hated it. Every bit of it. Especially how helpless he felt.

That night he turned and tossed a lot, thinking whether or not this was the right thing to do.


	9. Day 9

**Sorry for the long wait, I actually wrote the chapter a couple of days ago, but didn't like it very much so I never posted it. Re-worked it a little, should be better now :) **

Day 9

He kept fumbling with his cell phone while in meetings the next day, reconsidering last night's decision over and over again. He didn't know what the right thing to do was, and it drove him crazy.

He had never been good at dealing with difficult situations, and tended to escape into elaborate lies or schemes whenever things got serious.

Maybe Lily and Ted were right, they were in over their heads, and neither one of them really knew how to help Robin. On the other hand Barney believed that he had been helping her. Besides, he wasn't a believer in sharing ones feelings himself, so encouraging her to do that seemed wrong.

He had just gotten off a telco with China when his cell phone buzzed, it was Ted and he contemplated for a second whether or not he should answer the call or just let it go to voicemail.

He decided to take it, "Go for Barney?"

"Hey, Barney, quick question, is Robin with you?" Ted asked.

"Äh, no, she's not. I am still at work. Why?"

"She disappeared." Ted confessed.

"Well, she probably just went for a run or something, Ted you got to stop babying her."

"No, it's not like this. We got into another fight, and she left the apartment a couple hours ago. I thought she'd just come back once she cooled off, but she's didn't so I went to the shooting range, and checked there but they haven't seen her in weeks."

"Ted, relax. She'll come home eventually."

"Can you just call her please? She won't answer my calls." Ted pleaded.

"I doubt she will answer mine." Barney replied coldly.

"Just try? Please?"

"Fine, but seriously bro, you got to stop aggravating her, this isn't helping anyone."

"Let me know if you reach her, okay?" Ted responded.

"I will, bye."

He briefly wondered whether or not calling her was a good idea before dialing her number.

She didn't pick up, and he didn't leave a voicemail.

Great, so she was still mad at him. He couldn't blame her; after all she had asked him to stay and he'd completely abandoned her.

All of a sudden he felt incredibly guilty about it, and got how Ted felt and why he was so eager to find her.

He dialed her number again, and mumbled, "Come on. Pick up," while he waited.

Still no answer.

He was just wondering where she went, when his iPhone buzzed.

Robin had sent him her location.

He grinned when he recognized it as the spot in Central Park they had sat for so long last Saturday. He grabbed his suit jacket, and headed out of the office.

…

He was glad to see her smile when she saw him coming.

"What ya doing?" He asked as he sat down next to her.

"Enjoying a warm summer night in central park." She replied.

"Well, you aren't doing it right." He said.

She gave him a questioning look, and Barney asked, "did you get an ice-cream cone yet?"

"No I haven't. I left my wallet at home."

"Chocolate?" He asked as he got up, she nodded, "make it a big one."

…

"So, big fight?" He asked.

"Yep." Robin replied.

"Boy you are surrounded by fools, huh?" He carefully tried to bring up last night.

"Nah, just Ted." She smiled at him.

"What did you fight about?" He asked.

"He called my mom and told her what happened. Apparently he and Lily think that a trip home would make things better."

"No way!" Barney exclaimed.

"Way."

"Wow."

"Right?"

Barney shook his head, barely able to believe what was happening.

"So neat less to say, I disagreed." Robin had smeared her ice on her chin and wiped it off with the back of her hand.

"Well duh!"

They both starred into the distance for a few minutes.

Robin finally turned towards him, "anyway, after cursing Ted out for a few hours I actually started thinking about what happened last night."

"Robin before you say anything; I am sorry, okay? I shouldn't have left you like that." Barney explained.

"Well, Lily and Ted were pretty convincing with their argument."

"Still, our arrangement is none of their business." Barney said.

"As I said, I thought about it, and you know what? I think they are the reason I am not doing better. I mean Ted is constantly hovering over me, pissing me off with his theories on how I should feel, how I should behave, what I should be talking about. It's not you, it's them. You were just the easy scapegoat last night."

Barney shrugged, "maybe…I feel like you are doing better when we are hanging out alone."

Robin nodded, "yeah, me too. That's why I need to ask you a huge favor."

"Let's hear it."

"Can I move in with you? Just temporarily. I will start looking for an apartment, but I … I am not ready to be completely by myself in one right now, and I know you have that extra room where you keep all these…"

"Yes." Barney interrupted her.

"Yes?" She asked.

He nodded, "yes, you can move in."

She swung his arms around his neck, "thanks Barney, you are the best. I promise I won't interfere with any of your hook-ups or mess anything up."

Barney wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

The hug lasted longer than is should have, and Barney briefly contemplated what just happened.

But he was okay with it, Robin was an amazing girl, and he could really make a difference in how she'd cope with what happened.

Besides, he didn't like the thought of her being in an apartment by herself right now, and her current living arrangement was clearly not working out any more.

"Come on." He got up and pulled her up with him.

"What?"

"Let's get your stuff."

"Now?" She giggled.

"Why not? It's still fairly early."

"Yeah, but Ted's home."

Yes, that would slow things down tremendously.

"Okay, tell you what, we will do it tomorrow. I'll take off and we get a truck and move your stuff while Ted's at work."

Robin grinned, "you'd do that for me?"

"Robin, I'd do pretty much anything for you." He realized how cheesy it sounded, but it was true, he would. She didn't deserve what happened two weeks ago, and he would make this right. Or at least try to.

"Let's go home." He said.

"Home. I like that." She grinned, and they left the park.

…

"We can move the stuff out now, that way we don't have to do it tomorrow." Barney suggested.

"Or you can just leave it, I'd be okay as long as the bed fits."

"I doubt you need by back-up storm trooper lurking out the dark." Barney replied, lifting the older version of the one he had in the living room up, "I'll just put it in the basement storage unit."

"Thanks. Hey, what's this?" Robin asked, while pointing towards some boxes.

"Nothing." Barney said quickly.

It only made Robin more curious, "oh really?"

Barney put the storm trooper down and came over; quickly scooping the two boxes up.

"Just some dirty stuff."

"Sex tapes?" Robin guessed.

"There may be some in there, yes."

"What's this?" she pointed towards the corner were another box was standing.

"Robin, how about you order some pizza and I clean this room up?"

She grinned, "so bad, huh? Fine. The usual?"

"Yes please."

…

_Robin's staying at my place 2nite_.

Barney hit send and climbed under the covers. Robin was still in the bathroom, which gave him some time to think about the last couple of hours.

They had a fun evening. Robin was completely different today. She'd joked with him, they had a back-and-forth over hockey, all in all she seemed completely fine, like nothing ever happened.

He wondered whether or not she was just putting on a show so he wouldn't worry as much. Probably, he doubted that she was really doing much better than yesterday.

_Okay, good. Glad u found her & she's okay. See u guys 2morrow._

Barney grinned, he hoped not. Ted would probably flip out upon learning about they plans to move-in together.

He never had a roomie before, so he hoped this wouldn't end in a huge catastrophe. But why would it? They got along really well, and Robin already offered to hide out when he was bringing girls home.

Robin climbed into bed next to him, "thanks again Barney, I really appreciate what you are doing for me. I kinda feel like you are the only one who is still on my side."

He turned off the light, "everyone just wants what's best for you."

"Well, they suck at it. You should teach them how to be a supportive friend."

It made him laugh, "night Scherbatsky."

"Night Barney."


	10. Day 10

**Sorry for the long wait, I was busy with my other story...**

Day 10

"Robin?" He shook her shoulder lightly to wake her up.

Robin started stirring, and buried her head into the pillow.

"I got you breakfast." Barney whispered.

"Coffee too?" She mumbled.

"A latte macchiato," his hand was still lying on her shoulder, stroking her softly now.

She propped herself up, and rubbed her eyes before noticing the cream cheese bagel, a small bowl of fruit salad and the latte macchiato on the nightstand.

"Wow, that looks really good. Thank you Barney."

"We got a lot to do today, and breakfast is the most important meal of the day." He got up, and disappeared in the bathroom.

He remembered Lily's words while he was shaving, maybe making a girl breakfast in bed was crossing the line, but there were no hidden intentions, and Robin knew that.

…

They got the rental, and arrived at Ted's apartment around ten. Luckily no-one was home, and they were able to start packing right away.

"I'll start by bringing some of the smaller furniture items downstairs, okay?" Barney asked.

"Sure." Robin kept throwing things into the boxes as quickly as possible.

"You really don't want to see Ted, do you?" Barney asked.

"Nope." She replied.

"Me neither." He said, quickening his pace as well. He knew that they wouldn't be able to keep this a secret for very long, but he really dreaded the conversation with their friends about the change of plans.

…

"Dude! Have you never used a screwdriver before?" Robin asked.

They were both sitting on the floor, trying to disassemble her bed.

"'Cause I have." Barney replied.

"It sure doesn't look like it, here, let me do it." Robin tried to get a hold of the tool.

"Will you just…" Barney tried to free his hand, they were so busy wrestling that they didn't notice Lily entering the apartment.

"What's going on in here?" Lily's voice surprised them, and both turned around quickly.

Robin took the screwdriver out of Barney's hand, and turned back to the task on hand.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked baffled.

"What are you doing here, Lil?" Barney asked.

"Ted asked me to check in on Robin, are you moving out?" Lily replied shocked.

Robin just nodded.

Barney watched her for a second, she clearly didn't want to have this conversation right now.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Barney asked while getting up, "alone?"

Lily nodded, and followed him into the living room.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Don't freak out, but Ted is seriously driving Robin crazy, so we decided that she could live with me for a while." Barney explained, barely speaking loud enough for Lily to hear what he was saying.

"What? You got to be kidding. That is the worst idea _ever_."

"Why?" Barney challenged her.

"Well for starters, Robin won't be comfortable in your man cave, you don't even own a real stove for Christ's sake, let alone have any food around."

"That's your go-to argument?" Barney asked confused.

Lily pulled him into the kitchen, wanting to make sure that Robin didn't overhear the conversation, "Barney I know what you are doing, you are trying to hook up with her, and that's not cool. She is in a really vulnerable place right now."

"I know that Lily, and that's not what I am doing. I want her to get better, and getting out of this apartment, and Ted hovering over her 24/7 is exactly what she needs."

"Barney, I get that Robin is annoyed by Ted, but he knows her better than we do, and I think if you would just let things run its course she'd realize that, and start open up to him." Lily countered.

"Bullshit. Who is she most comfortable around right now? Me! Not Ted. Lily this move is what she needs, and it's not like she will be by herself either, I will make sure she's okay."

"Oh come on Barney, Robin went through something very traumatic, you can't just handle this."

Barney rolled his eyes.

"What about your bimbos? You can't just bring random chicks home when Robin is there." Lily said.

"We've talked about that, and Robin is okay with it." Barney replied.

"Oh really? So she just has to hide out in her room day-in and day-out?" Lily asked.

"Lily listen, this is happening, whether you like it or not. You can either be on board, and help us, or not. Your choice, although I recommend the former if you want to start gaining Robin's trust again."

Barney left the kitchen before Lily could reply.

"Wow," Barney was surprised to find the entire bed disassembled.

"How did it go?" Robin asked.

"I am not sure yet." Barney replied, while picking up the first piece of the frame.

"I heard you could use another set of hands?" Lily asked when she entered the room.

Barney and her eyes met, and Barney smiled at her before passing her to bring the furniture to the truck.

…

"I think it's time for a pizza." Barney exclaimed an hour later.

It had taken forever to disassemble the closet, and they were almost done carrying everything downstairs.

"I'd rather get going." Robin said.

"Oh come on, you can't move without ordering pizza." Lily chipped in.

Barney looked at Robin, waiting for her reply.

She shrugged, and mouthed 'Ted'.

"Lil you are sure that Ted's not coming home for lunch today, right?" Barney asked.

"Yeah, he has a meeting with clients, that's why he asked me to check on you in the first place." Lily explained.

"Okay then, let's order pizza." Robin said, and Barney pulled his phone out.

The pizza arrived half an hour later.

"Robin are you sure you want to live at the Fortress of Barnitute? I've spend some nights there, and it's not necessarily the … how do I put this delicately… the most girl friendly place." Lily asked.

"I think it'll be fine." Robin replied.

"Me too, we can stay up, drink scotch together, and watch hockey games."

"Since when do you watch hockey, Barney?" Lily asked delighted.

"Since I got my new sport package." Barney replied.

"Since he constantly hangs out with a Canadian, and realized that the big white north isn't that bad after all." Robin interjected.

Barney grinned, "well, I don't know about that."

"I'll take you one day, prove to you how wrong you were about Canada." Robin promised.

"I'll take you up on that Scherbatsky."

"Oh I hope you will." Robin replied winking at him.

Barney noticed Lily smiling at her pizza, and wondered what she was thinking right now.

"So Robin, what about when Barney brings bimbos home?" Lily asked.

"What about it?" Robin asked.

"Well, won't that be kind of awkward."

"Nah, I can pretend to be his wife in the morning, it'll be fun." Robin replied.

"Exactly, besides, it's not like I am constantly bringing girls home anyways."

"Right, you prefer dark alleys," Lily spurted out without thinking about what it was she had said.

Barney's head spun around, he just starred at her for a second, a second that felt way too long to all three of them, before he finally said, "McLarens bathroom stalls are quite roomy actually."

"I'll get me another coke, want anything?" Robin asked as she left the room.

"Really Lil, really?" Barney asked as he got up himself.

"I didn't mean to." Lily defended herself, but Barney had already left the room.

He found Robin leaning against the kitchen counter, she pushed herself off and opened the fridge when she saw him coming.

"Robin listen," he started, but she talked over him immediately.

"Don't Barney, okay?"

He nodded, she was right, this wasn't them. He shouldn't be trying to be a Ted. Still, he really wanted to pull her into a tight hug, and tell her that everything would be okay.

"You wanna get going? We still got a lot to do today." Barney suggested.

Robin nodded, and emptied her glass.

Lily had cleaned up the pizza cartons, while they were in the kitchen.

"Robin I am sorry." She said as they entered the room.

Robin just waved her off, "who will help me carry this closet door down?"

"I'd say you two do it," Barney suggested.

"And you watch?" Robin teased him.

"No Robin. I will take the other parts." He pushed past her, and started to pick things up.

Within twenty minutes they had everything in the truck, and were good to go.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help unload?" Lily asked for the tenth time.

"Positive, I'll pay the doorman to help us, it'll be easy." Barney assured her.

Robin nodded, "it's fine, we got this."

Lily nodded, and drew her best friend into a hug. Barney watched them, he couldn't believe Lily was on board with Robin living at the Fortress of Barnitude.

"Jeez, she isn't moving to another country." He spoke up.

Lily let go of Robin, "I know, it's just … you two living together, that's huge!"

"Let's go before Lily get's even more sentimental Robin", Barney joked.

…

They got to Barney's apartment, and Victor, the doorman, was more than happy to help them carry things. Well, the money helped curve his enthusiasm.

Between Victors help, and the comfort of having an elevator, they had everything upstairs rather quickly.

"Have you thought about how you want to arrange the furniture?" Barney asked as he entered the room.

Robin shook her head, "not really. I mean this room is much nicer, than the other one, I might just get another dresser or something." She shrugged, and walked towards the window.

"The view is nicer too, huh?" Barney asked as he stepped behind her.

"Yeah," she turned around, "thanks again Barney."

"Stop thanking me every five minutes, it's really annoying. So what do you think, put the bed on this wall?"

"I was thinking the closet," she replied.

"And the bed?"

She pointed towards another wall.

"Well, let's do it!" he exclaimed.

…

They went out to go shopping after reassembling the closet, and Barney helped with selecting a nice lounge chair and dresser, as well as a rug. He also insisted on buying her a few nice pictures for the room, arguing that Lily wasn't going to visit often anyways so there was no need to have her paintings up on the wall.

There élan was fading quickly after they returned, and so they weren't making that much progress afterwards.

"Dude, that's the wrong screw." Robin pointed out.

"It got to be the right one, it's the only one that makes sense." Barney replied annoyed, shifting through the screws on the ground.

"I swear, if I collapse with this bed tonight..." The doorbell interrupted Robin.

"I'll get it," she jumped up, and Barney watched her grinning. Maybe Robin should just sleep in his bed again, that way they could finish building the bed tomorrow.

He could hear Robin talk, but not quite make out what she was saying. But then he heard Ted, and got up himself.

Robin had the doorknob in her hand, keeping Ted from entering the apartment.

"I got home and all your stuff was gone," Ted was clearly angry.

"Hey bro." Barney said, while stepping behind Robin.

"Don't bro me. Whose idea was this? When were you going to tell me?"

"Ted listen," Barney started, but Ted wasn't having it.

"No, I want to hear this from Robin."

Barney looked up at the ceiling, annoyed by his friends attitude.

"I've asked Barney if I could move in, and he was okay with it. Ted it's not like our living arrangement has been working lately." Robin answered firmly.

"What do you mean it hasn't been working?" Ted asked, still fuming.

"It's weird. And not just since…that night. Living with an ex is just awkward." Robin replied.

"Everything was going fine until Barney interfered."

"Hey." Barney interjected.

"This has nothing to do with Barney, Ted. Me living with you isn't working, and it certainly won't help me get back on my feet."

"But living with Barney will?" Ted asked.

"I think it will, yes."

"Oh come on, he just wants to get in your pants."

"Hey!" Barney interjected once again.

"Good night Ted." Robin was surprisingly calm.

"You are making a huge mistake." Ted said, shaking his head, "and you can always come home, okay?" He turned around, and started walking down the corridor.

"Good night." Barney shouted after Ted.

Robin closed the door, letting herself fall against it.

"Well, that went fairly well." Barney commented.

"He'll be back, this is far from over." Robin replied.

Barney nodded, "hey, how about, we screw building your bed, and instead put our PJ's on and watch TV in bed?"

"Hockey?"

"Sure thing."

…

Robin had fallen asleep rather quickly, and Barney was watching her. Today had been a good day, of course they had a lot to do so she didn't really have time to think too much about what had happened. Still, Barney had a really good feeling about her living here with him.

For the first time in his life, he felt like he was making a large difference in someone's life and it felt kind a good.


	11. Day 11

**Thanks for the reviews! I had planned on writing a chapter on whichever story got more reviews today, and this one won, so enjoy :-) **

Day 11

Barney got up a little early to get some breakfast before he had to leave for work. He woke Robin up and they ended up eating together at the living room table.

"This is nice." Robin commented as Barney handed her half of his peach.

"It kind of is." Barney agreed, "what are your plans for today?"

Robin shrugged, "straighten out the room."

"I'll help you with the big things later, okay?"

"There isn't really much left, I mean I can finish the bed by myself, the dresser shouldn't be a problem either, and even though you might be angling towards helping me unpack and going through my underwear, I'll be fine with that as well."

"Okay first of all, don't injure yourself while assembling the furniture, I don't want a big blood stain on that carpet. And secondly, I'd never go through your underwear drawer, I hope you know that."

Robin just smiled, "what about you? Big day at work?"

Barney shrugged, "the usual."

"Too top secret to tell me, huh?" Robin asked delighted.

"Exactly." Barney got up and cleared his table.

"Just leave everything, I will clean up when I am done." Robin interjected.

"Thanks, see you later Scherbatsky!" He hollered as he grabbed his wallet, and keys.

"Later Stinson." She replied joyfully.

Barney couldn't help but smile, this was a good start.

…

"Robin?" He asked as he entered the apartment. Eager to find out if her day had been better than those spend in Ted's apartment.

"In my room." Came the sober reply.

Barney put his things down, and walked over to her room.

"Wow!" He exclaimed upon entering, the room looked completely different to this morning. All the furniture was assembled, the cartons gone, and everything was nicely decorated.

"This looks homey." He commented, walking around to take a better look at different items.

She didn't reply, and he turned around to her, noticing her red eyes he realized that she must have been crying, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She waved it off.

"Tell me." He pleaded.

She shrugged, "Ted was here…"

"Seriously? Why?"

"To talk to me, well really to convince me to move back in with him." Robin said.

"Well, did you kick him out?" Barney asked.

"Very funny. He just doesn't get that I feel more comfortable around you then anyone else these days." Robin said frustrated.

Barney couldn't help but grin, and turned around to hide it from Robin.

"So, what else did you do today?" He asked, changing the subject.

"I unpacked."

"Well obviously, anything else? Did you go shopping?" He asked.

She shook her head, Barney nodded. She wasn't big on leaving the apartment these days, and he wanted to change that.

"Okay, how about we go running? It's beautiful outside." He suggested.

"Running?" Robin asked surprised.

"Yeah, just a little round, couple of blocks." He started to loosen his tie.

"I hate running." Robin confessed.

"Oh come on, it'll be nice. We can stop for a smoothie at the Shake Shop."

"Wouldn't that defy the whole purpose of going running?" Robin asked.

"The purpose of going running is to enjoy the nice weather, now sportwear-suit-up Scherbastky." He said, leaving her room, and heading to the bedroom to get changed himself.

…

Barney was a little proud of himself for getting her out of the apartment. And even through Robin said she hated running, it didn't really seem like it once they started to do it.

"So, your not a runner, huh?" Barney asked.

"Nope, don't see the purpose and never will."

"Well the purpose is to stay in shape." Barney replied.

"Okay let me rephrase my earlier answer, don't get the fascination. I mean there are so many interesting sports, why run around for no good reason?"

Barney laughed, "it's not so bad if you do it together, right?"

"Yeah it's not." Robin agreed.

Barney noticed a larger crowed of students heading their way, and changed directions, turning right before they reached them.

He knew Robin wasn't really comfortable being in a crowd of strangers, and he wasn't going to force her into anything that made her feel that way.

"So smoothie?" Barney asked.

"I'd prefer if we ordered Thai food?" Robin replied.

"Sounds like a solid plan." Barney replied, picking up his pace.

Robin laughed, "boy you can't wait, huh?" She asked as she caught up to him.

Not a runner, yeah right, Barney thought, and decided that they should do this every evening.

…

They spend the rest of the evening on the couch, eating way too much food, and watching trash TV.

Barney had half expected Ted to show up again, but whatever Robin had told him must have done the trick, because he didn't bother them. Or maybe Lily said something to him, she'd seemed as if she was on board with everything now too.

"Well, I got an early meeting tomorrow morning," Barney said as he scrambled to his feet.

"Oh…okay." Robin reached for the remote control, and turned the giant TV off.

"That doesn't mean you got to stop watching," Barney turned around, and watched her.

"I know, but I don't want to keep you up." Robin explained, clearing the glasses off the couch table.

"It won't, seriously Robin, this is your home now too, you can be as loud as you want, whenever you want."

Robin smiled, "home, huh?"

Barney nodded, he himself had thought that it had sounded a little weird when he said it. But it was true, this was her home now.

"I'd rather go to bed though," Robin said.

Barney watched her for a second, briefly wondering if she was planning on sleeping in his bed again. He knew that it made her feel safer when he was lying next to her, but he also knew that she had to get over that.

He didn't know how he should address the issue though.

"I get it, your bed does look super comfortable." He said, realizing as he did that it sounded like a very lame line to get in there with her.

"Yeah, the room is really nice." Robin said, skirting around the topic.

Barney nodded, "well, good night Robin."

She nodded as well, but Barney couldn't get himself to leave. She looked so…vulnerable and lost.

"Are you going to be okay by yourself?" he finally gave in.

She shrugged, and asked, "I…could you just stay for tonight? Just so I can get used to the new noises and stuff?"

"Of course Robin." He replied, it made her smile.

He thought about what just happened as he was brushing his teeth a couple of minutes later. He wasn't sure whether it was due to the incident, or just because Robin just had that effect on him; but lately he always wanted to guard and protect her.

He shook his head, Lily would start to analyze him if she'd knew what he was thinking.

…

"Thank you Barney." Robin whispered, as they were lying next to each other.

"Just ask if you want me to do something, okay? I am not as good at reading your mind as Ted is." Barney replied yawning.

"I think you are better at it than you think." She replied.

Barney thought about it for a second, before changing the subject, "you know, I've never slept in this room before. It's actually kind of nice."

"It is, I thought it would be louder, given that the windows are facing a busier street than your bedroom windows, but it's not loud at all."

"'Cause we are so high up." Barney explained.

"Yeah, that reminds me, how much rent do I owe you?"

"Please." Barney waved it off.

"Seriously, I don't want to be a freeloader."

"And I don't want your money." Barney replied.

"Barney I appreciate the offer, but I really want to pay…please?"

"Nope." Although Barney wondered whether or not her paying rent would force her to go back to work, something she had successfully avoided since that day.

"Great…I see where this is going, you want to guilt me into sleeping with you."

Barney knew that it was supposed to be a joke, but he didn't think it was funny. At all.

"You know what Robin? I am just trying to be nice here, okay? No hidden agenda whatsoever, I am so sick of everyone assuming I am just doing all this to get into your pants." He got a louder then he had planned.

Robin reached out and wrapped her hand around his arm, "I didn't…Barney, I am sorry. I know that's not what you are doing. I was just joking."

"Everyone's always _just joking_" Barney muttered.

He felt Robin move, and a second later she wrapped her arm around his stomach and nested her head on his shoulder.

"I am sorry. It was a stupid joke, you've been a perfect gentlemen all these nights, and I really appreciate that. Seriously Barney, thanks for not making a move, or fumbling with my clothes, or anything."

Barney could smell her shampoo, vanilla with something else he couldn't quite identify. He thought back to 11 days ago, when she hadn't even bothered to take a shower, or eat.

"I overreacted." He finally whispered, "sorry."

"You are right, I shouldn't make jokes like that, it's just that we used to bicker like that all the time, and sometimes it's the only thing I can think of saying." Robin confessed.

"Well, I don't expect you to pay rent, okay? I don't expect you to pay anything, really." Barney got back to the real issue.

"Thanks Barney." Robin replied, wrapping her arms around him even tighter.

The only thing he expected from her was to get over that night, and what had happened. To start living a happy life again, without the panic attacks, nightmares, and crying.


	12. Day 12

Day 12

The realization that he had overslept hit him, and instead of carefully untangling from Robin's arms, he shot up, and staggered her.

"What's wrong?" She asked, clearly on the verge of panicking.

"Nothing, sorry… I didn't mean to scare you." He said, while rubbing his face.

"Was there a noise?" She asked, still sounding scared.

"No, really, everything is fine. I just overslept." He reached for his iPhone, which only confirmed that he should be sitting in a meeting right about now.

"Oh." Robin said, before adding, "I am sorry, I should have told you to set your alarm clock… I didn't plug mine in yet."

"It's fine." He jumped out of bed, "it's not your fault."

He rushed over to his own bedroom, taking off his clothes as he does so. After a very quick shower, and getting dressed in a hurry, he finally comes back into the living room.

"I'll see you later Robin, okay?" he shouts over to her room.

"Bye, have a great day!" she replies, and with that Barney is out of the apartment.

…

Bilson isn't exactly happy with him, and demands an explanation. The best Barney can come up with is that his alarm didn't go off.

He doubts that Bilson is buying it, but he lets it slide, and leaves Barney's office.

Barney lets his head fall back, and closes his eyes. Great.

Then he remembers his last thought before falling asleep last night, and sits up straight again, reaching for his phone.

He calls the operator, and asks to be connected to a locksmith. Seconds later he is talking to a seemingly nice gentlemen about deadbolts.

"I'd like increase the security in my apartment, would it be possible to install one today?" he asked, while playing with a pen.

"I could come over around 3pm?" The man suggested.

"I am not home until seven, seven-thirty. Could you come over then?" Barney asks, he doesn't want Robin to be alone with some random guy.

"Our after hours rates would apply." The man explained.

"That's fine, I'd really appreciate if you could install one today. I don't want anything cheap either, get me the best you've got, okay?"

The man assured him that he wouldn't be disappointed, and they made an appointment for eight o'clock that night.

…

"Hey, you are home." Robin greeted him happily.

There was something about seeing her in a good mood that immediately improved his own.

"How was your day?" He asked while hanging his coat up.

"It was good, I skyped with my younger sister, Katy." Robin explained.

Barney nodded, "that's nice."

"Yeah, my mom didn't tell her what happened, so no awkward pauses, or shallow chit-chat."

"Great."

"Lily called and asked if we would meet them at McLarens later, you know, since it's Friday."

"If you are up for it? We have to wait though, I hired a locksmith to install a deadbolt on the door." He pointed at the entrance.

"Really?" Robin asked.

Barney nodded, he looked through the mail on the table, and finally loosened his tie. Just then realizing that Robin was fighting back tears.

"What's wrong?" he asked, stepping closer to her.

"Nothing…you just…you have no idea how much all of this helps." She waved her hands around the apartment.

It made Barney smile, "I just figured it will make you feel safer. I mean this building is already super safe; and you have nothing to worry about. Especially with me in the other room, I'd beat the crap out of an intruder. True story."

Robin grinned, and Barney wondered what she was thinking. He had expected something like, 'no you wouldn't', because he really wasn't much of a fighter. But maybe she sensed that he wouldn't hesitate to charge at someone who was trying to hurt her.

"So McLarens, huh?" Barney asked.

Robin shrugged, "first I was trying to come up with an excuse, but then I thought, why not? I mean, yeah Ted is probably still mad about me moving out, but why let that get in the way of us having a nice night out?"

He watched her while she was typing something on her phone, he assumed she was telling Lily that they were indeed coming, and couldn't help but grin. She seemed like a different person since she had moved in with him, and he really liked it.

…

The locksmith had kept his word, the deadbolt was no joke. Barney thought as he was waiting for Robin after the guy had left.

He was caught off guard when Robin wrapped her hands around his upper arm, and quickly kissed his cheek,

"thanks for doing that for me." She said, before letting go, and grabbing her purse.

Barney nodded, and asked "anything else you can think of that would make you feel safer?"

"Just knowing that you are around is enough, really." Robin replied.

"Well, I can easily comply with that request." He grinned, holding the door while she walked through.

…

The others hadn't arrived at McLarens when they got there, and so it was just them in the booth.

"I am starving, I think we should start with appetizers, who knows when they will get here." Barney suggested, while grabbing the menu.

"Mozzarella sticks?" Robin suggested.

"And Hot Wings?" Barney asked.

"Boy, you really are hungry." Robin laughed.

"I didn't have lunch, because that was the only time I could re-schedule the meeting I missed this morning." Barney explained.

"Oh right, sorry again."

"Not your fault, remember. What do you want to drink?" Barney asked, already getting out of the booth.

"I'll take a beer." Robin replied.

Barney nodded, a little surprised that she didn't want her usual.

"You got it." He said, and walked over to the bar.

Carl told him something about a new special, and he got caught up in the menu, trying to figure out whether or not the recently added Quesadilla would be a better choice than the hot wings.

"Dude." Carl got his attention, and Barney looked up. Carl pointed back to the booth, and he turned around.

Two guys had approached Robin at the table, and she looked as if she was about to bolt.

Barney slammed the menu down, and walked over.

"Hey." He almost shouted, something he hadn't meant to do.

"Oh hi." One of the guys said, waving at him.

"Leave her alone." Barney barked.

"Sorry dude, we didn't know she's your girl." The second one said, clearly taken aback by Barney's harsh tone.

They disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, and Barney scooted into the seat next to Robin.

"Everything okay?" he asked, while gently putting his arm around her shoulder.

She nodded, but was close to tears, and Barney pulled her closer to himself.

"Don't cry, I am sorry, I should have paid more attention." Barney was rambling now.

"That's not it… I just…they were really polite, and I still almost freaked out completely." Robin sobbed, burying her face into his jacket.

"Hey, don't be so harsh on yourself. You just need to get used to these situations again." Barney said, rubbing her back.

"What if I never will?" she looked up at him.

"Please, that's ridiculous." He replied.

They looked into each other's eyes, and Barney concentrated on not looking away, because he felt as if somehow that would proof her point.

"Hey guys!" Lily's voice surprised them both, and they quickly sat back up.

"Hey." Barney replied.

All three of their friends were standing next to the booth, clearly taken aback by what they had just interrupted.

"Long time no see, how are you guys?" Barney asked, purposely leaving his arm wrapped around Robin's shoulder as if it was the most normal sight in the universe.

"Pretty good, have you ordered anything yet?" Lily asked. She and Marshall took the booth, while Ted pulled up a chair.

"Nope, we were thinking Mozzarella sticks, hot wings and Quesadilla for starters." Barney said.

"Sounds great, I'll go order." Ted jumped up.

"And two beers." Barney added.

"You okay sweetie?" Lily asked Robin, leaning half way over the table to get closer to her.

"Yeah, I am great. How are you guys?" Robin asked, her tone clearly stating that she was not okay.

"It's been one of those days, if you know what I mean. A kid in my class threw up on me, Marshall got yelled at by his boss – the ushe." Lily explained.

"How was your day?" Marshall asked.

"It was good." Robin said.

Barney knew she didn't want to be the focus of the conversation, and quickly dove into a completely made-up story about his Chinese business partners.

Robin had noticeably relaxed by the time the food came, and Barney couldn't help but grin stupidly because he was a little proud of himself for handling these situations so well.

"How have you been?" Barney finally turned to Ted, the hot wings were messy, and he had to pay close attention so his tie wouldn't become an innocent victim to this snack.

"Pretty good." Ted replied, "it's really lonely in the apartment by myself."

"Well, you can finally run around naked, didn't you always wanted to do that?" Marshall asked.

"It's not as much fun as I thought it would be." Ted countered.

"It depends, this one time this totally hot girl from across the street saw me…" Barney started.

"No one believes that story." Ted interrupted him.

"How is living with Barney, Robin?" Marshall asked.

"It's been two days," Ted pointed out.

"Nice, I am really enjoying the Fortress of Barnitude." Robin replied.

"Uh, we got to come over some time to check out your new room, Robin!" Lily said excitingly.

"Yeah, sure." Robin replied.

"How about tomorrow night, we could watch a movie on Barney's giant TV?" Marshall suggested.

"And order from that awesome Chinese place right around the corner from your apartment." Ted added.

Barney looked at Robin, trying to figure out whether or not she was up for it. She just shrugged, and he nodded.

"Sounds like a plan," he agreed.

…

They didn't stay that long, mostly because Barney felt like Robin was uncomfortable in the busy bar.

"We'll bring plenty of beer, okay?" Marshall said, as they got up.

"It was great seeing you sweetie." Lily said, briefly rubbing Robin's arm.

"Yeah, see you guys tomorrow." Robin said, but Barney noticed that she was barely paying attention, and instead kept an eye on the group of guys standing by the bar.

Ted got up, clearly with the intention to hug Robin goodbye. Barney quickly shook his head, and Ted stopped midway.

"Bye." Barney said, wrapping an arm around Robin's waist.

He made sure that his body was between Robin, and all the people standing at the bar, but he still felt her gripping his jacket tightly as they walked by them, and drew her closer.

She broke down crying on the cab ride home, and he just held her.

He didn't know what to say to make her feel better. Mostly because he felt like crying himself.

She used to be such an independent, strong woman; and the realization that one night, one event, had reduced her to a nervous wreck broke his heart.

He buried his head in her curls, and kissed her hair.

…

This time it was him who asked her to stay with him over night, not wanting her to be by herself tonight.

She seemed really glad he'd asked, and so they ended up sleeping in his bed again.

Barney tried to think of something reassuring to say, but he couldn't think of anything that didn't sound like an empty phrase, and so they just lay next to each other until they finally fell asleep.


	13. Day 13

**Honestly, I know people like this story, but I am getting a little tired of it, so it might be a while until I update again. Plus side; this is an extra long chapter, and I will have more time to finally finish Dangerous Territory :-) **

Day 13

Barney woke up when Robin started stroking his shoulder, and softly told him "good morning sleepyhead."

"Morning," Barney mumbled, and upon noticing the smell of fresh bacon finally opened his eyes.

Robin was kneeling next to the bed, holding a tray.

"Wow, what's that?" Barney asked, while propping himself up to see.

"I made us breakfast," Robin grinned.

"That looks really good." Barney sat up all the way, taking the tray from her. She had scrambled some eggs, fried bacon, and even made biscuits.

Robin left the room to get her own plate, and the coffee.

"This is awesome," Barney commented when she came back and sat down on 'her' side of the bed.

"I hope it tastes good too." She said.

Barney tried some of the scrambled eggs, and exclaimed, "they taste really good!"

It made Robin smile, "you know, I thought about last night, and you know what? I am done feeling like this, I want my life back."

"So you went out shopping this morning? Awesome."

"Well… not exactly, I paid Victor to go." Robin confessed.

It made Barney laugh, "whatever works, this food is delicious."

"I am glad you like it, don't get used to it though, I am not going to start making it a Saturday morning tradition like Lily and her Sunday pancakes."

"Too bad. So, what do you want to do today?" he asked.

"I don't know, what about you?"

"I'd like to hit the gym," Barney shrugged, he hadn't been in quite some time. "Hey, you should come with me, I am sure I can get you a visitors pass for the day."

"Nah, that's alright, I think I will just hang around the apartment," she replied.

"We could go grocery shopping together later if you want?" He suggested.

"Oh jeez, I will be fine going to the store by myself Barney. Let's just meet back here sometime around lunch time?"

Barney nodded, "I know a great place where we could eat."

"Perfect, let's do it."

…

Barney never intended to go to the gym, yes he hadn't been in quite some time and he would have gone if she had agreed to tacking along, but he really just wanted to get out of the house for a few hours.

He got lucky, Lily had send Marshall out to get breakfast since she wasn't feeling that well, and so they ended up alone in her living room.

"Didn't expect to see you before tonight." Lily commented as she handed him a coffee.

"Well. I wanted to talk to you, alone." Barney confessed.

"About?" Lily asked interested.

"Robin." Barney said, and added, "and how she is doing."

"Go on." Lily said after a few seconds of silence.

"I think she is getting worse Lil, I mean, you saw her last night." Barney played with the rim of his coffee mug.

"I actually thought she was doing better, I mean she seemed excited to meet us at the bar, she looks sooo much better these last couple of days, and she is eating again."

"Well, yes…but strangers make her really nervous, and that seems to be getting worse by the day." Barney pointed out.

"I didn't really notice anything off last night, I mean sure, she seemed a little uncomfortable, but McLarens was packed towards the end." She shrugged.

"She was terrified Lily…it felt like she was holding on for dear life when we left, and walked by the people standing at the bar." He shook his head.

"It was a loud bar, full of half drunken people, Barney, give her some time."

Barney shook his head, "it's more than that Lily, and I don't know how to help her get over that fear."

Lily sat down next to him, placing her hand on his arm, "I think you are already helping her by being there for her, Barney. She clearly feels safe around you, everything else will fall into place naturally."

Barney really hoped Lily was right.

"How are the nights? Has she had more nightmares?" Lily asked.

Barney shook his head, "no, I don't think she has, at least she hasn't been waking up screaming like that anymore."

"See, that's good." Lily said enthusiastically.

"She hasn't slept by herself yet either." Barney added.

It made Lily smile, "you are still sleeping in her bed, that's really sweet."

Barney rolled his eyes, "it's not sweet."

It made Lily grin, "so…has anything happened between you two yet?"

"Of course not." Barney replied annoyed.

"Oh come on, it's not that far fetched. You are sleeping, almost naked, in the same bed as her, and I bet you are cuddling too. That's more than friends."

"I am just comforting her."

"Barney you are fooling yourself. I mean you two never hung out alone before all of this happened, and now she has become the most important person in your life…and you in hers."

"That's a bit exaggerated." Barney defended himself.

"Oh really? So you are not constantly figuring out ways to help her get over this?"

"That's what friends do, I mean Ted, and you are doing the same thing."

"But we don't spend every free minute with her." Lily pointed out.

"Because she won't let you." He countered.

"Exactly, she'd much rather hang out with you then anyone else in the world."

"That's just because you two are smothering her."

Lily paused for a second, and Barney took another sip from his coffee.

"Are you afraid of what could be?" Lily asked.

"Oh jeez, Lil."

"Seriously, I mean, I know I said it was a horrible idea for the two of you to hook up, but now… You clearly take her mind off things, and she trusts you. Maybe this is exactly what she needs."

"Woah, woah, woah…no Lily, don't even. Robin, and I are friends, and I am not going to make a move, or hook up with her." Barney got up.

"What if she would make a move?" Lily asked.

"Please, you know Robin wouldn't do that." Barney replied.

"She might be developing feelings for you, I mean it would only be natural."

"Well yeah, because I am so awesome that every chick wants a piece of the Barnman. But seriously Lily, it's lunacies to suggest that Robin would think of me in that way, you know that?"

"Why Barney?"

"Well for starters, because we are bro's, bro's don't develop feelings for each other. And come on Lily, do you really think Robin is even remotely thinking about her next hook up right now?" Barney asked.

"No, of course not, but she is in a very vulnerable place right now, and you are there for her. I mean just think about it, she let's you hold her, but Ted, who she dated for a year, isn't even allowed to touch her. There is a reason for that."

"Whatever Lil. I am telling you, there is not and never will be anything going on between Robin and I, we are friends, and that's that." Barney got up, walking towards the door.

"See you at 8 o'clock?" he asked.

Lily nodded, "yeah, and Barney?"

He turned around again, and she said, "it'd be a good think if you two were dating."

Barney rolled his eyes, and closed the door.

Dating, phew, as if. Barney Stinson doesn't date women, not even awesome ones like Robin Scherbatsky. And girls like her didn't go out with guys like him either, he was comforting her, and that was that.

…

"Oh wow." Barney was surprised to see Robin swirling around in the kitchen when he came back.

"Perfect timing, you wanna lick the bowl?" Robin asked.

"Of course" He dropped his duffle bag, and came over, "whatcha doing?"

"Well, I figured I'd make us some brownies for later. I am also planning on making a guacamole, and a cheese dip when we get back." She handed him the bowl.

"Sounds awesome." He used his finger to get some of the batter, and leaned against the counter. "So, did you pay Victor to go, or did you go yourself?"

"I went myself." She looked at him, a huge grin on her face.

"Good for you." He said, also smiling.

Maybe Lily was right, and she really just needed more time.

"Well, I am going to put those in the oven, that should give you enough time to get a shower." She suggested.

"Perfect, btw. if the batter is any indication; these brownies will be off the hook."

It made her smile, and Barney watched her for a couple of seconds before heading towards the bathroom. Seeing her happy was just priceless.

…

Barney didn't cook, and Barney certainly didn't decorate brownies. Yet, there he was, carefully coating the brownies with icing while Robin added the sprinkles.

He kept glancing at his tie, worried it'd get ruined in the process.

"They look great." Robin said, she was almost whispering.

"Yeah." He answered, still wondering what in the world he was doing here. His kitchen sole purpose was to look stylish, not to bake brownies in. But then he glanced over to Robin, noticing her smile, and knew that it was all worth it.

Baking was stupid, decorating brownies even more so, but it took Robin's mind off that night, and that made it kind of awesome.

The doorbell interrupted them.

"Are you expecting someone?" Robin asked.

Barney shook his head, it was not even six, the others were supposed to get here much later.

"I'll see who it is." He said while putting the brownie he had been working on down.

It was Ted.

"What are you doing here?" Barney asked surprised.

"Well, I figured I'll help you guys get everything ready." Ted explained joyfully, entering the apartment.

"Hey Robin!" He called out to her.

"Dude we said eight, not quarter till six." Barney pointed out.

"So? We'll just hang out till Marshall and Lily arrive. Oh wow, you are baking?" Ted put the grocery bag he had been carrying down, and came over to Robin.

"We are making brownies." Robin explained.

"We? Barney doesn't bake." Ted had rounded the counter, and reached Robin.

"Hey babe." He said, while wrapping one arm around her shoulder, and pulling her close for a second.

Barney watched the scene, and wondered what Ted's angle was. His and Robin's eyes met, she was clearly just as surprised by all this as he was.

"Let me help you, I can smear the icing while you do the sprinkles?" Ted suggested.

"Actually Barney was…"

"It'll go much quicker that was." Ted interrupted her, already turning around to wash his hands.

Barney gave Robin a look that was supposed to ask her whether or not he should put Ted in his place, but she just shrugged, clearly wondering if he was okay with all this.

So Barney pulled up one of the stools, and watched them decorate the brownies together.

"What did you do today?" Ted asked.

It didn't look as if Robin was going to answer so Barney said, "let's see, I worked out, we went out for Brunch, we tried 'The Corner Bistro' this time, I've never been there before so that was nice. Well and then we just stayed in, and chilled."

"The Corner Bistro is great, remember how often we went?" Ted asked, nudging Robin.

Barney noticed that she wasn't smiling anymore.

"We got caught in the bathroom one time." Ted chuckled.

Barney was still watching Robin, but she just kept starring down on the sprinkles, not letting her emotions show at all.

"Well, we just ate there, and it was really good." Barney said, "that reminds me, I wanted to show you my latest toy, got a sec?"

"I am in the middle of…"

"I got it Ted." This time it was Robin who interrupted Ted.

"Fine, but this better be good. What did you get? Another storm trooper?" Ted whipped his hands off, and followed Barney into the bedroom.

"What the hell Ted?" Barney asked as soon they had entered the room.

"What?" Ted asked.

"What are you doing? Don't you see that you are making her uncomfortable."

"Says who? You?"

"Dude you just referenced some weird hook up in the bathroom of the corner bistro." Barney pointed out.

"It wasn't weird." Ted defended himself.

"What the hell?" Barney asked again.

"Jealous?" Ted challenged him.

"What?"

"That's what all this is about, right? You are jealous that Robin dated me for a year, and that's why you are trying your hardest to keep her away from me. But I am not playing along anymore, I'll behave however I want around her."

"That's not what this is about bro. This is about Robin getting better."

"It's always about sex with you Barney." Ted replied.

Barney wondered where all this was coming from all of a sudden, and then it hit him, "are you jealous?"

"So are you sleeping with her?" Ted countered.

"You still love her, and it's killing you that she is confiding in me instead of you." Barney realized.

They looked at each other for a second before Ted said, "stop babying Robin, Barney, and let me be around her."

Barney watched his friend leave the room, and shook his head. It wasn't him who had kept Robin from Ted, it was Robin herself, but he was probably the wrong person to tell Ted that.

He thought about booting his laptop, and surfing the web until Marshall and Lily came, but leaving Robin alone with Ted wasn't really an option so he walked back into the living room.

"You look really good today, Robin." Barney heard Ted say, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Not really, I've been baking, and cooking all day in this, so I should probably take a shower, and change." Robin pushed past Ted, and Barney and disappeared into her bathroom.

The two men starred at each other for a second, before Ted broke the silence, "I'll grab the movie from the rental place down the block."

Barney was a big fan of that idea, "get something good, okay?"

Ted nodded, heading out the door.

…

"I can't believe you really made those." Lily said, looking at the brownies with awe.

"Well, I had help." Robin replied, giving Barney a small grin.

"Yeah, I helped." Ted suddenly appeared next to her, wrapping her arm around her waist.

Robin pushed him away, "stop doing that."

"What?" Ted was just as surprised as everyone else.

"This weird hugging, I don't want you to touch me."

Barney quickly looked down into his scotch, not wanting anyone to see his grin.

"I wasn't…. I didn't think…sorry." Ted stepped back from Robin.

"Let's start the movie." Marshall quickly interjected.

"Great, what did you get Mosby?" Barney asked.

"McElroy and LaFleur."

"What?"

"You did?" Robin asked excited.

"Oh no…It's something Canadian, isn't it?" Barney asked alarmed.

"I knew you'd like to watch it again." Ted explained to Robin.

"Hell, yeah I do." Robin came over, and sat down next to Barney, nudging him, "you'll love it! It's like Lethal weapon, just better."

"I got a feeling that's not true." Barney replied.

Ted came over, and settled on the floor next to Robin's legs.

"Oh come on Barney, don't be such a spoilsport, if Robin likes it I am sure it's a great movie." Ted said.

"Should we start, and pause when the food gets here?" Marshall suggested, the others agreed, and so they watched the first twenty minutes of the film.

"I am sorry, but this is a rip off." Barney concluded while taking the carton with Chinese food from Lily.

"I really enjoy it, Robin." Ted said, while wrapping his hand around her leg and stroking her calf.

Barney leaned over to Robin, and whispered, "I'm not scared to punch him, you know."

It made her laugh, and she leaned closer to his ear, "you'd do anything if it meant not sitting through this movie, huh?"

It made him laugh, and they opened the food cartons.

"They forgot to leave the sprouts out for me?" Robin realized upon opening hers.

"I don't think Barney asked them too." Marshall interjected.

"Dude, everyone knows that Robin doesn't like those." Ted said, looking back over his shoulder.

"You don't?" He asked her.

"I should have told you, sorry." Robin replied.

"Barney should have known, I mean how often have we ordered Chinese together? One hundred times?" Ted replied, he handed her his carton, "switch? There are non in mine."

"That's nice, thanks Ted."

Barney watched them exchanging cartons, and found himself rolling his eyes once again. Ted was going on his nerves, but it seemed like he was the only one bothered by his behavior.

Marshall, and Lily sure didn't seem as if they thought that Ted was constantly crossing a line, and even Robin seemed content with all this.

"Seriously Barney, you claim to be Robin's best friend, yet you don't even know these things."

"I never said I was her best friend Ted." Barney replied.

"Shh, this is the best part." Robin hushed them both, and they concentrated on the movie again.

The movie sucked. Plain and simple. Barney would have left after the first thirty minutes if it weren't for Robin.

"It's no 'Field of Dreams', but it's okay." Marshall said.

"Yeah, I liked it too." Was Lily's comment.

"Like it? It was awesome! You were right Robin, I should have watched it much sooner." Ted, who had taken Lily's seat next to Robin when she had gone to the bathroom, grinned at her.

"What do we watch next?" Lily asked.

Barney noticed how Ted scooted closer to Robin, and he was fairly certain that's what caused her to say, "I'm really tired, but you guys should watch something else. Barney has every channel imaginary."

"Oh sweetie really?" Lily asked.

"I am sorry, I got up early…" Robin explained.

"Well, if you are tired then you are tired." Ted stepped in, "good night Robin."

He leaned over, clearly intending to hug her, but Robin put her hand up, and it ended up being a weird half hug instead.

"Night." Barney just said when she turned around.

"Are you joining me later?" Robin asked, Barney noticed how everyone's eyes' was on them.

"Maybe." He responded, he could basically see what the others were thinking, and didn't want to fuel their crazy theories.

Robin was clearly out to do the opposite though, her "night," was barely audible, as she lunged forward, and quickly kissed him.

A second later Barney was starring at the empty seat next to him, Robin had jumped up, and gone to her bedroom.

He licked his lips, and noticed the others starring at him. Ted looked hurt, Marshall surprised, and Lily had a 'told ya' look on her face.

Barney quickly turned to the TV, and said, "Marshall, pick something already."

Marshall did, although Barney didn't pay attention at all. His heart rate was through the roof, and he knew Ted, and Lily were still watching him.

He could still feel her lips on his.

He certainly hadn't expected that. Especially not in front of everyone. Scratch that, he'd not expected it, period.

Barney glanced over to Lily, who was grinning now. Great.

…

"Told you!" Lily hissed as they were leaving.

Barney shook his head slightly, but Lily was still grinning happily.

Ted was still disappointed.

"See you tomorrow?" Marshall asked as he passed Barney.

"Don't know yet, I'll see what Robin wants to do." Barney replied, "night guys."

Barney was glad when he was finally alone. He locked the door, and let himself fall again it.

What. In. The. World. Was. That.

He glanced over to Robin's bedroom, expecting her to come out any second.

She didn't, and after a few more seconds he pushed himself of the wall, and walked over to the door.

He peeked in, she was sound asleep so he left the door open and went into his own bedroom.

Somehow, having Robin not next to him turned out to be more nerve-racking than he thought. He wasn't able to fall asleep for almost two hours, sitting up in bed every time he heard a noise, and listening until he was certain that Robin was still asleep.

He contemplated going over to her room, and sleeping there. But on the other hand this was a good step in the right direction, Robin was too dependent on him, and sleeping in separate beds again was an important step in the right direction. Plus, he'd hear her if she'd have another nightmare.

He wondered what the next morning would bring, would they both pretend that kiss had never happened? Would they talk about it? If so, would she tell him what it had meant to her? What was he going to tell her? That it had meant nothing? Was that smart giving her current emotional state?

Barney finally fell asleep.


	14. Day 14

Day 14

Barney couldn't hear anything, she must still be asleep, which meant he could sneak into the kitchen, and grab one of those brownies without having to deal with that kiss yet.

He had just grabbed the brownie when he heard her call his name.

Great.

"Yeah?" he answered anyways.

"Can you come here for a second?" Robin asked.

He looked at the ceiling for a second before walking towards her room.

She was still lying in bed, propping herself up on one shoulder.

"Isn't it a little early for a brownie?" he asked amused.

"Never too early," Barney replied while chewing. He sat down on her bedframe.

"Did it work?" She asked.

"Did what work?"

"The kiss, did it shut Ted up?" She clarified.

"What?" he asked surprised.

"He was such a jerk to you all night, I wanted to show him that you still win…friendship wise that is."

It made Barney laugh, "that's what this was about?"

"Well yeah…the way he acted around you was so not cool. And all that weird touching me, he had it coming. Wait, what did you think this was about?" Robin asked surprised.

"I didn't know, you caught me completely off guard." Barney wiped his hands.

"Well, it wouldn't have had the same effect if I'd warned you...I didn't think you'd mind."

Barney lay down next to her, and she pulled the covers over him as well.

"Are you kidding? Barney Stinson never minds getting kissed by pretty girls." Barney winked at her.

She snuggled up to him, letting her hand rest on his stomach.

They just lay there for a second until Robin suddenly broke the silence by whispering,

"he kept forcing me to kiss him."

Barney tensed up, this was the first time Robin was opening up about that night.

He almost wished Lily were here, she'd know what to say.

Instead of saying anything he just extended his arm around her shoulder, and started stroking her back.

"I tried biting him, but his hand was always right there, I couldn't…"she closed her eyes, and Barney stopped stroking her, and instead used his arm to pull her closer.

"I am sorry." Robin whispered, trying to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"Don't be." He replied softly.

"I just… a part of me wanted to override those memories, you know? I kind of wanted to prove to myself that I could still kiss someone. I am sorry, okay? I know the bro code is very clear about how to behave around a bro's ex-girlfriend, and I shouldn't have put your and Ted's friendship in jeopardy.

Barney swallowed, "kiss me."

"What?" She asked surprised.

"Come on, do it. That guy doesn't deserve to be the last person who kissed you,"

"Barney by that logic we'd have to do a lot more than kissing." She replied.

"If you won't do it, I will. It won't mess anything up between us, I promise." Barney whispered.

Robin hesitated for another second before leaning forward, and kissing him tenderly on the lips.

The kiss only lasted two seconds.

"Oh come on, you can do better than that." Barney teased her.

She laughed, "we both have morning breath."

"That's good, that way we won't want to do this again." He winked.

She leaned in again, and this time they weren't just purely pressing their lips onto each other.

Robin broke it again.

"I am not completely incapable to do normal things after all." She said, smiling.

Barney nodded, he slowly moved his hand up, and cubed her face with his it.

"Ready? It's my turn now." He warned her. She smiled, and nodded.

He was very gentle, and kept his eyes open to catch any reaction she might have. After a few seconds she opened her mouth to him, and he broke it off.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, before Barney asked, "are you okay?"

"Yes. You are a good kisser."

"That's nothing, I swear half the girls just sleep with me because they are so wrapped up in making out with me, that they don't even realize that I am undressing them. You weren't expecting anything less, right?" he countered.

She shook her head, and whispered, "show me."

"Robin I don't think that's a good idea, I mean kissing and _kissing_ are two completely different things." Barney explained.

"Please Barney." Robin replied.

"Why?" He asked.

"Don't make me say it." She replied.

He swallowed, this was a bad idea.

"He made you do that?" He asked softly.

"He forced his tongue into my mouth, yes."

Barney couldn't stand that empty look on her face, so he kissed her again.

This time slipping his tongue into her mouth once she'd opened up to him. It was completely different to his normal make-out sessions, as he tried to be tender, and tentative.

Afterwards he pulled her against his own body, mostly so he wouldn't have to look her in the eyes.

"That wasn't the kiss that makes these girls sleep with you, was it?" Robin asked, her voice muffled by his t-shirt.

"No, it wasn't" He responded quietly.

They lay there like that for a few minutes before Robin looked up, "what time is it? I am supposed to be meeting Lily at 10."

Barney turned around to catch a glimpse of the alarm clock, "9:30, you better hurry."

Robin nodded, and they both got up.

"You aren't going to tell the others, right?" Robin asked.

Barney shook his head, "course not. Friends can make out, no biggie."

"I meant…the other thing."

"Oh that…no I won't tell anyone."

She nodded, grabbed some clothes out of her drawer, and left the room.

…

"What are you doing?" Robin asked when she entered the apartment four hours later.

"Cooking." Barney grinned proudly.

Robin put her purse down, and came over, "what are you making?"

"Spagetthi…it's my mom's recipe." Barney explained.

Robin lifted one of the lids, "wow, the sauce smells amazing."

Barney shrugged, "I've never made it myself."

It made Robin hesitate for a second, "do I got time to change?"

Barney nodded, and watched her go.

The truth was that her revelation had caught him off guard. Up until now he had never _really_ thought about that night.

But now, it was all he could think about. He had spent the entire morning trying to distract himself from what she had told him, without success.

He had finally called his mom to ask for the recipe of his favorite dish. His mom wasn't a good cook, but whenever one of her boys was feeling down, she'd make these spaghetti to cheer them up.

This dish had always made him feel loved, and it somehow reassured him that everything would be okay.

His hope was that it would do the same for Robin.

…

"Do you like it?" He asked as soon as she had taken the first bite.

Robin nodded, "yes, it's really good."

She smiled at him, and he couldn't help but grin.

"This…" Robin hesitated, "this isn't a date or so, right?"

"What? No. I just… I wanted to do something nice for you." He replied quickly.

He could see how the tension fell off of her.

"Oh thank god."

Barney grinned, "you thought cause I made a home cooked meal…"

"It's Lily's fault. She kept going on, and on about us. She thinks we are dating without realizing it." Robin shook her head, "ridiculous."

"Well, you _did_ kiss me in front of everyone." Barney teased her.

"Yes, to piss off Ted, not so Lily could start planning our wedding." Robin replied sarcastically.

It made Barney laugh.

"That reminds me, Lily wants us to join them Tuesday night, they are going to see a show on Broadway, she got us tickets as well."

Barney nodded, and asked "do you want to go?"

"Do you?"

"I am fair game, I don't have anywhere else I have to be at."

"I told her I would go if you were coming with me." Robin confessed.

"Didn't really defuse her suspicions with that answer." Barney noted.

"I know…it's just…the place will be packed, not exactly what I prefer these days, but I know I need to get over that, so I figured I should go, but I kind a need you there."

Barney was surprised by her honesty, and nodded, "let's do it."

…

Robin volunteered to clean the mess he had made in the kitchen up, and he decided to hit the gym.

While lifting weights, all he could think about was what she had told him, and he hated it. He hated every bit of it; he hated that he couldn't get that thought out of his head, and he really hated that this had happened at all, that he hadn't somehow prevented this.

Robin was watching TV when he got back to the apartment, and he joined her after a quick shower.

"What do you want to watch?" She asked.

"Whatever you want, I don't care." He replied.

She nodded, "Hockey it is then."

Barney couldn't help, but grin. He would have never guessed that he would stay in, watching hockey every night. But somehow this wasn't bothering him nearly as much as it probably should.


	15. Day 15

**Thanks for all the reviews. I am still really into this story as well, it just takes a little more effort to write these chapters since they are usually longer, and more thought through than any of my other stories were. Sorry for the long wait, and thanks for sticking with it :) **

Day 15

Barney checked his schedule, the next meeting wouldn't start for another twenty minutes, which would give him time to call Lily.

"Hey Barney." She answered immediately, sometimes he wondered if she took her job all that serious.

"Hey Lily, do you got a minute?" He asked.

"Sure, what's up? How is Robin doing?"

"She is doing fine, but I do have a question for you."

"No, you can not see my boobs." Lily responded.

"That wasn't my question." Barney replied, "I was wondering how, how you do it."

"How I do what?"

"Robin told me some things about … that night, and I can't stop thinking about it. You and Ted were at the hospital with her, you must have gotten a more detailed description of what happened that night, how do you process that?"

"She talked about it?" Lily asked surprised.

"Just some bits and pieces, it came up in a conversation we were having." He rubbed his eyes.

"That's good, the psychiatrist said that opening up about it would help her." Lily told him excitingly.

"It's not helping her if it freaks me out Lily. I am already treating her differently, and I don't want that."

"You are treating her differently because you were just as much in denial as she is about what happened." Lily said softly.

Barney swallowed, "I just never _really_ thought about it…and now it's all I can think about."

"I am pretty sure it's all she can think about too." Lily was almost whispering now.

"So what do I do now Lily?" He asked again.

"Nothing, it's good that she is opening up to you, you just got to listen, and be there for her, I don't think she really expects anything more." Lily advised him.

Barney sighed, this wasn't helpful at all.

"Has she talked to you about it?" He finally asked.

"No. I only know what the doctors told us, I really think this is the first time she mentioned anything about that night."

"Great, and I got to be the one she opens up to. Seriously Lily, I am the most unequipped person in the world to deal with a situation like this."

"You are not, you care about her, and she clearly trusts you, that's all that matters." Lily said.

"What if I say something insensitive?" He asked.

"Have you said anything insensitive to her these last couple of weeks?"

"No… I don't think so. But everything is different now Lil, I am constantly thinking about what happened, it's just a matter of time until I say something out loud."

"Well, what did you say when she told you thinks?" Lily asked.

Barney shrugged, "nothing really, I just…I don't know, apologized maybe? I don't remember."

"Just be yourself Barney."

"Easier said then done." He replied.

He could hear Lily laugh lightly, and asked what she had.

"You love her." She simply said.

"Of course I do, as a friend. Not in a romantic way, you know that."

"No, you really love her, that's why this is killing you. Robin shared one little detail about that night with you, and you are a complete mess. Deny it all you want Barney, but you are in love with her, that's why hearing more about what really happened, and knowing that this happened to _her_ is so hard for you."

"Whatever Aldrin, I am just worried about my bro."

"Speaking of which, do you now get why Ted is acting out? He too can't handle the things he now knows."

"Hey, don't compare me to Ted," he noticed Bilson walking towards his office, "I gotta go, see you tomorrow night for the show?"

"Yes, can't wait. And Barney?"

"Yes?"

"It's okay to be in love with your best friends ex, no matter what the bro code states."

"Bye Lily." He hung up right when Bilson walked into his office.

…

Robin was chilling on the couch, reading a book, when he got home. It occurred to him that she had yet to return to work.

He didn't want to bring the issue up right now though, and instead asked, "ready for an evening run before dinner?"

"You know I hate running." She replied as she put the book down.

"Yeah, I don't buy it, come on, I don't feel like going to the gym tonight, besides, the weather is awesome."

She shrugged, "fine, can we stop for ice cream again?"

"That's really defying the whole purpose of the run, you know that, right?" He replied while loosening his tie.

"Can we?"

"Why do you even ask me, you know I am not good at saying no to you."

"That's the spirit." She teased as she disappeared into her room.

Ten minutes later they were outside, and started their going their usual route.

They turned the corner onto a busier road, and it started to get crowded on the sidewalk. Barney slowed down, and reached for her hand.

"Or maybe we will just go on a walk." He commented as he pushed through a group of tourists, pulling her along behind him.

He felt her grip tighten, and turned around, she was deliberately starring at the concrete, letting him direct her through it all.

He turned back, and moved more assertive through the people. Once they made it through the gust of it, Barney asked started jogging again, still holding her hand tightly.

He debated whether or not he should say something for the next four blocks, but decided against it.

Tomorrow would be rough, Broadway musicals were always cramped, maybe this wasn't the right time for them to go. On the other hand, she probably needed to get out more to get over this fear.

…

"Hey look, it's Sandy Rivers." Barney had flipped through the channels trying to find something they could watch tonight.

"Oh yeah." She handed him his beer and plotted down next to him.

"Do you miss work?" He asked, looking at her now.

"I certainly don't miss him." Robin replied.

"But do you miss going to work every day?" He asked again.

"Who misses work?" she asked.

"I do. Honestly, I like my job, and I am going nuts when I am just sitting around for too long doing nothing."

"Well, I don't know. They gave me two weeks off, you know."

Barney suddenly realized something, "which means today would have been your first day back."

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you go?"

"You know why Barney."

"No I don't. I mean sure, you didn't always love your job, but it got to get boring sitting around all day." And a little softer he added, "it also gives you a lot of time to think about what happened."

"I can't go back to my job Barney, you know better then anyone that I am still suffering from panic attacks."

The look on her face made him feel sick, "they aren't that bad."

"The ones where you are close by aren't that bad," she muttered.

He turned the TV off, and faced her, "you mean you get them when you go out by yourself too?"

"I get them even when I am alone in this apartment Barney." She was tearing up now, and Barney realized that he really had no idea what was going on when he wasn't home.

He pulled her into his arms, "why didn't you say anything."

"What would that change Barney? I am a complete mess, that guy was right, I have posttraumatic stress disorder, and that will probably never go away. I am literally not able to return to work, and I may never be." She was crying now.

"Hey, don't say that. You will."

"No I am not, I may never be able to do anything normal again."

He hated to see her cry, especially when he felt like crying himself.

"It's only been two weeks, you just got to give yourself more time." He whispered.

"I feel like it's getting worse, and worse by the day." She replied.

Barney thought that he was feeling the same way, but decided to stick to Lily's theory, and repeated, "it'll get better."

They just sat there for what felt like forever, and finally went to bed, even through it was barely nine yet.

Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he promised her once again that she would be all right, and that this wasn't going to defy her future.


	16. Day 16

Day 16

Robin didn't wake up when he snuck out of bed the next morning, and so he decided to leave her a note.

_Good Morning – I'll pick you up at five, okay? I figure we can get a bite to eat before heading over to the theater to meet Marshall and Lily. Barney_

…

His first thought when he entered the apartment, and saw her walking out of her room was that she looked like the old Robin.

The "wow", had escaped his mouth before he could stop himself.

It made her smile.

"You look absolutely stunning." He complimented her.

"Well, I figured if I have all day to get ready, I should make good use of it."

He smiled, "well, let me hop in the shower, and get my best suit on, and then we are good to go."

He hurried past her, pulling out his cell phone once he was in the bathroom. He had planned to take her to a normal Steak House, but that wasn't really an option now that she had dressed up.

While pulling through his contacts he really hoped that he would still get a table at his favorite restaurant.

He did, he was even able to bribe them and got the remote table in the back, where no-one would bother them.

"Wow, this place is really fancy." Robin commented after the waiter had left.

"You've never been here? The food is amazing."

She grinned, and picked up the menu.

He already knew what he would be having, and simply watched her. She really did look amazing, and it made him happy to see glimpses of the old Robin again.

They ended up talking about Hockey for most of the meal, and he realized how throughout his knowledge in the subject had become over the past weeks.

It was a nice meal, especially because he didn't get the impression that Robin was at all nervous or uncomfortable.

All that changed when they arrived at Times Squares an hour later.

The street was packed, and upon exiting the town car Barney drew her close to him, making sure that she was somewhat shielded from the crowds.

"You okay?" He asked after a couple of feet.

"I am fine."

They looked into each others eyes, and Barney realized that her sole attention was on him, instead of the strangers around her.

"Okay, let's do this." He whispered.

What were they thinking? This was the busiest place in the city.

Yet somehow Robin seemed to do okay.

Someone bumped into her, and as a response she wrapped her arms around his stomach, almost as if she was afraid to get separated from him in the crowd.

As if. He would never let that happen.

They finally reached the entrance of the theater, Marshall and Lily were already waiting for them with their tickets.

"Are you okay honey?" Lily asked once she noticed them.

"Yeah, I am fine." Robin replied, she had let go of him, but Barney decided not to do the same.

Instead he started to stroke her shoulder, hoping it would have a calming effect on her.

"You look great." Lily said.

"You do too." Robin replied.

"When does the show start?" Barney asked, he could feel Robin relaxing, if he had to guess he would say that her standing with the back to the busy street had something to do with it.

"Ten minutes, most of the people are already seated, shall we go in?" Marshall asked.

"Sounds good." Robin smiled at him, a genuine smile, and it made him do the same.

He kept his arm around her shoulder until they had reached their row, at which point he reached for her hand and lead the way.

Barney, and Marshall were sitting on the outside of their little group, while Lily, and Robin sat between them.

"Do you guys want something to drink or eat?" Marshall asked.

"We just ate, but thanks." Robin replied.

They were still holding hands, and Barney started rubbing hers with his thumb.

"Really? What did you have?" Lily asked, and Robin started to tell her about the restaurant and the different courses they had.

Barney zooned out until the show finally started.

…

"Who wants drinks?" Marshall asked during recess.

"I think we all do, and I need to go to the ladies room." Lily had already gotten up.

"Yeah, me too." Robin got up as well, which caught Barney a little bit by surprise, he had assumed that they would simply wait for Marshall to return with the drinks.

They were quick enough so that they reached the restrooms before the big crowd came.

Barney waited outside for Robin, and watched the lobby fill up.

"She seems to be doing really well tonight." Marshall commented next to him.

"Yeah, she does." Barney said, the question was for how much longer. There was no way Robin would be okay coming to the bar with them, it looked like three rows of people were already trying to get drinks.

"Thanks." Robin commented as she took her purse back from Barney's hands.

"How about you and Lily get the drinks and we wait here for you?" Barney suggested.

Someone bumped into Robin, and he reached for her hand, which she took and pulled herself closer to him immediately.

"Sounds good, Champaign?" Lily asked.

Barney nodded, he didn't really care as long as they got back to their seats quickly.

"It's a good show, isn't it?" He tried to distract her.

"Yeah."

Someone else bumped into her, and Barney yelled after him that he should watch out where he was going.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

She didn't reply right away, but then another guy brushed her while walking by, and she shook her head.

"I feel really claustrophobic Barney."

He nodded, she looked as if she was on the brink of a panic attack, and he tried to figure out a way to get her out of here.

But they were stuck, getting her through the crowd would only make matters worse.

"Barney…" he felt her grabbing his shirt tighter, "I am sorry."

He realized that she was starting to cry, and quickly tried to comfort her, "don't be."

"Can you just get me out of here?" She asked, her voice was trembling.

Barney checked the room again, then looked back to her, "I think we are better off just staying here, it will clear soon."

He saw her swallowing hard, and felt like he was letting her down.

Without really thinking about it, he shoved her against the wall, leaned in, and kissed her.

She hesitated for a second before joining in, at which point he opened his eyes to check if she had hers closed.

She did.

Maybe this would work, maybe he could keep this kiss going to distract, and comfort her until the room had cleared.

He waited until she opened up to him before pushing his tongue into her mouth.

He could feel her relax slightly, and soon it didn't feel like she was holding on for dear life anymore.

Barney couldn't tell how long their make-out session went on, Lily finally interrupted them.

"Wow…that was hot." Lily commented.

Barney scanned the room, it had already cleared a lot.

"So, since when are you two an item?" Marshall asked while handing them their glasses.

"We are not." Barney quickly countered.

"Oh come on, that was not a kiss friends share." Marshall pushed.

Barney rolled his eyes and took a sip from his glass.

"Barney was just distracting me." Robin explained.

"And it clearly worked. You two looked as if you were about to rip each others clothes off, and conceive your first baby right here."

"I think you two are good together, I mean Barney clearly makes you feel safe." Marshall pointed out.

The announcement that the show was about to start back up came, and Lily prompted them to go back inside.

Barney noticed how Robin hesitated, and said, "you know what, I think we are just going to head home."

"What? Did you not like it?"

"We did…we would just rather get out of here." Barney said.

Marshall started laughing, "got you buddy," he winked at them.

Barney shook his head, that was not what he had meant.

"See you tomorrow?" Robin asked.

Lily nodded, and hugged her friend.

"Have fun." Barney hollered after them.

"You too." Marshall replied, still grinning foolishly at them. Barney rolled his eyes and turned back to Robin, "home?"

"Yes please."

…

He noticed how Robin made sure to keep some space between them in the cab, and wondered if she too had misunderstood the meaning of the kiss, and him proposing to head home early.

He wasn't sure whether or not he should bring the subject up, obviously he hadn't meant anything by his statement, but maybe Marshall's comments had given Robin the wrong idea.

It was awkward, and it got even more awkward once they entered the apartment.

"I think you did really well tonight." He said in an attempt to start a conversation, but he could tell that Robin felt uncomfortable.

"Hey, I was wondering, since we are home early, would you mind if I went out by myself? I haven't hit a bar in quite some time, if you know what I mean." He winked at her.

"No, of course not." She seemed relieved.

"Thanks." He was already half way out the door, "don't wait up, okay?"

"I won't, good luck."

"Phew, I don't need luck." He joked, closing the door behind him.

While in the elevator he wondered what the hell he was doing.

…

He ended up heading to the nearest bar, drinking a few too many drinks, and banging a chick that was even drunker than him in the restroom.

All of which resulted in him passing out, half naked on his bed at three in the morning.

First his drunken mind couldn't really puzzle together what he was hearing, but then he realized that it was Robin screaming in the other room.

He jumped out of bed, got his foot caught in the bed sheets and fell. Next he bumped into the doorframe, hurting his right foot.

She had already stopped screaming by the time he reached her room, and he turned the lights on.

He could just see her back, but she was clearly crying now, and he ran the last few feet to her bed and climbed in, pulling her into his arms.

"I'm here." He told her hastily, while noticing that his foot was pulsing.

"I am here." He repeated a few seconds later, calmer this time, "Robin I am home, I am here."

It took a while before her crying became sobbing. Barney was intrigued to ask her what her nightmare had been about, but instead he opted to tell her another story.

His drunken mind wasn't very creative though, and he ended up telling her about his night, stopping right at the point where he and Cathy sneaked off to the bathroom.

"Did you nail her?" Robin asked between sobs.

He had never felt ashamed for his one-night stands, quite the opposite was true, he loved bragging about it.But not this time, he shouldn't have went out, he shouldn't have left her alone in the apartment knowing that she could have another nightmare, knowing that she had panic attacks when she was alone. He especially shouldn't have left her alone to trick some drunk chick into sleeping with him.

"I…did, yes." He answered sober.

She didn't say anything else, and he didn't feel like saying anything else either.

He finally drifted off into a light sleep.


	17. Day 17

**Wow - thanks for all these amazing reviews! **

** BeLegendary: I hadn't watched the new episode (stupid time difference/ iTunes always makes me have to wait till tuesday night to watch it) before reading your comment, and it made me laugh out loud twice, first when I read it, and then when I actually saw the episode (probably wouldn't even have picked up on the Belize thing otherwise). **

Day 17

Robin's sniffing woke him up again a little while later. He tightened his grip on her and asked softly,

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry I woke you up." She whispered.

He could tell that she was still crying, and briefly thought about how normal dealing with all that had become.

"What was the dream about?" He asked dozily.

It took her a few seconds to answer, "that night."

He waited a minute or so, but Robin didn't continue, and so he started talking again.

"I've thought a lot about that night lately."

"You have?" She asked while wiping tears off her cheeks.

"Yes. I wish things had gone differently that night. Or rather, I wish that I had done things differently."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Well, I shouldn't have let you leave the bar by yourself…"

"Barney…" she interrupted him, but he stopped her by continuing to talk.

"I should have gotten up with you, I should have demanded to bring you home myself, not taking no for an answer."

"Barney none of this is your fault," Robin whispered.

That wasn't what he was trying to get at so he just continued his tale,

"Once outside I would have hailed a cab, and I would have accompanied you to Brooklyn. We could have made fun of Ted's date with that hippie chick, or maybe I would have told you about my new laser tag move, or you know, I would have just made fun of Canada."

"What would you have done once we would have gotten to Brooklyn?" Robin asked.

"Brooklyn isn't New Jersey, I, and my awesomeness, would have survived."

"No, I mean…would you have come upstairs?"

"Would you have asked me too?" He countered.

"I don't know, this is your fantasy, not mine."

A couple of witty, highly sexual comments came to his mind, but he didn't say any out loud. Instead he said,

"I don't know, when I think back I usually just think about getting from McLarens into the cab."

He could feel her nod, "but now we are outside my apartment in Brooklyn, would you have come upstairs?"

"Sure if you'd let me."

"Say I would have, what would we have done once we upstairs?" Robin asked.

Barney thought about that for a second, "play battleship."

"Really? You wouldn't have tried to make a move?" She asked.

"Okay fine, if you would have been up for it we would have played strip battleship."

It made her laugh, "new game you invented?"

"Yes, it's now available at selected toy stores. Instead of military ships the little figures resemble the love boat, among others."

They were silent for a moment before Robin spoke again,

"I like your alternate version of that night."

Barney started to gently stroke her shoulder, "me too."

He thought back to the night, and how the scene at McLarens had really played out. How they had all sat around the table, mocking Ted for his disastrous date with Anja.

Robin had to work early the next day, and thus decided to head home shortly after midnight. They tried to talk her into staying for one more round, but she hadn't budged.

Neither Ted, nor Barney had thought of offering her to walk her out. And they most certainly didn't offer her to bring her home.

It would have been their job, Barney now realized.

It should have been their duty to make sure that their close friend got home okay.

Instead they had barely paid attention to her leaving, and instead ordered another round.

"I really, really wish I had done that." He whispered, realizing all of a sudden that her safety had – to a certain degree – been his responsibility.

Robin turned around, and wrapped her arms around his stomach, pulling her closer to his chest.

"It's not your fault." She whispered.

Barney nodded, he hated that this whole thing had become about him, but it was suddenly weighting heavily on him, and he couldn't help it.

His alarm went off, and he held her for another few seconds before untangling himself from her, and her sheets.

"Try to get some rest, okay?" He asked as he reached the bedroom door.

He didn't get an answer, and briefly turned the light on to see if she was still crying. Robin mumbled something, and pulled the sheets up.

It made him smile.

"Lock the door behind me, okay?" He asked as he climbed back onto the bed, and kissed her forehead.

"You smell like booze and bimbo." She replied.

"You just noticed that now?" He asked amused.

"My nose was all stuffy." She pulled the covers over her head, it reminded him of a stubborn teenager, and made him smile.

"See you tonight Robin."

"Have fun at work."

…

He didn't. He was exhausted from the lack of sleep, and could barely concentrate on anything.

His cell rang at around two thirty, a picture of Lily gave away who was calling.

"Hey Lil." He answered while putting his head back, briefly closing his eyes.

"Spill it Stinson."

"Spill what? Hey, how was the second part of the show?" Barney asked.

"Don't change the subject, how did it go last night?"

"Good, Robin was fine once the lobby cleared, and we went home."

"And…?" Lily asked hopeful.

"And what?" He asked.

"Oh come on Barney, since when do you not kiss and tell?"

He rubbed his eyes with his free hand, wondering how on earth Lily knew about … he'd already forgotten her name.

"I guess you talked to Robin." It finally dawned on him.

"No I haven't yet. I wanted to gauge the temperature before I did. So, how was it? You were gentle, right?"

"Sure Lil, that's how it usually goes in a bathroom stall." He commented annoyed that they were still talking about his hook up.

"What?" Lily gasped.

"What?"

"I thought you took her home, seriously Barney, what's wrong with you? Couldn't you have waited thirty minutes until getting to the apartment."

"I might have questionable morals, and a few too many drinks, but I am not going to bring bimbos home to the apartment now that Robin lives there." Barney replied.

"What are you talking about?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You and Robin finally sleeping together." Lily clarified.

"What? No. I took her home, went to a bar, and nailed a drunk chick."

"You did what? Why?" Lily sounded as if she was about to come through the phone.

"Hey, I am an adult, and can sleep with whomever I want, whenever I want." Barney defended himself.

"Yeah, but why would you choose a bimbo over Robin? Oh I know what this is!" She sounded a little too excited for his liking.

"You are still scared of your feelings for her."

"No that's _not_ it. Robin, and I are friends. Period."

"That kiss was way too passionate for that."

"I was trying to distract her." He defended himself.

"Right, because nothing calms a female _friend_, who'd recently been raped, like sticking your tongue into her mouth." Lily said sarcastically.

Barney just sat there and starred at the ceiling.

"You love her Barney, and she loves you, that's why this crazy make-out session worked to calm her down. That's also why you intuitively did the right thing." Lily said softly.

"No Lily. We've kissed before okay? It's not romantic, or because we are in love, it's just…a distraction. Please do me a favor, and stop hinting that we have feelings for each other, it's freaking Robin out."

"It's freaking you out too." Lily replied wittily.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore, besides, I got work to do." And with that he hung up on her.

…

He was still exhausted when he came home, and just wanted to take a nap.

"How about we order pizza after you get up?" Robin suggested as he loosened his tie.

"Great idea, greasy pizza is exactly what I need tonight."

"Well, go get some sleep." Robin gave him a little push towards the bedroom door.

…

It was already dark by the time he did wake up, sitting up in bed, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

He felt even more tired then when he laid down, and turned around to check the alarm clock, just now noticing that the other side of the bed was occupied.

A brief glance at the clock informed him that it was already past two a.m.

He let himself sink back into the sheets, briefly contemplating whether he should give in, and go back to sleep, or get up to find something to eat.

He decided to stay in bed, and carefully scooted over to Robin, placing his arm around her waist once he was close enough.

It didn't take very long for him to fall back asleep.


	18. Day 18

**Sorry for all the mistakes in the last update, I tried to be on the lookout for them this time. Sometimes I am just way more into writing than proofreading, and just power through it cause I want to get to the next "big" scene. **

Day 18

Robin was not lying next to him anymore when he woke up the next morning, and he briefly wondered whether or not he had dreamed placing his arm around her waist last night.

He got up, and upon hearing the shower of the guest bathroom running decided to jump in the shower himself.

Robin was still in the bathroom by the time he was done dressing, and after standing indecisively in the living room for a minute or two, contemplating whether or not he should knock on the door, and check in on her before leaving for work, he decided to do so, and walked back towards the bathroom.

He hesitated for another second before finally knocking on the door.

"Hey Robin? I am gonna leave for work, okay?"

Seconds later Robin opened the door, her hair was wet, and she was wrapped in a bath towel, "good morning."

"Morning, I've got to head out." He repeated.

"Okay, what would you like to eat tonight? I am planning on going grocery shopping later."

"I don't know, surprise me."

"You got it." She walked by him, "I made you a coffee to-go."

Barney couldn't help but grin widely, before turning around to follow her. He stopped in his tracks as soon as he noticed the fading bruise covering her right shoulder blade.

"I hope it's not too strong." Robin had picked the cup up, turned back to him, and noticed him starring at her, "what?"

He quickly shook his head, "nothing."

He walked the last couple of steps towards her, and took the coffee.

"Thank you, have a good day."

"You too."

Once in the elevator Barney contemplated what he had just seen. Sure, he'd known that she'd been roughed up, but all that had happened three weeks ago.

It most have been a hell of a bruise if he could still see it even now.

He swallowed, realizing that now another detail he wished he didn't know would haunt him.

…

_Let's grab some lunch, be there in 20._

Barney sighed, this day was just getting worse by the minute.

_Today is bad Ted. Raincheck? _

He hit send, hoping to get out of it.

He didn't. 15 Minutes later Ted showed up at his office,

"Didn't you get my text?" Barney asked.

"I did, but I decided to drop by anyways, come on, you don't seem that busy, sure you can make time for a quick lunch with your best bro."

Barney didn't like the sound of this, and wondered what Ted's angle was.

They ended up at an Italian restaurant, and it didn't take Ted very long to start asking about Robin.

"So Barney, how has Robin been?"

"She's doing okay I guess." Barney shrugged, focusing on the menu instead of looking at Ted.

"Has she had any more breakdowns?"

"She's still struggling for normalcy, but I think she's doing a lot better. So architecture Ted, what's new there?"

"That's great. Marshall and Lily mentioned that you guys went to see a musical the other night, and that Robin was doing fairly well in the crowds." Ted continued talking, clearly ignoring Barney's attempt to move on to the next topic.

Barney kept his eyes on the menu, wondering what else Marshall and Lily had told Ted. The answer came right away.

"Marshall said you guys were really into each other, holding hands, and touching each other all night."

Barney put the menu down, "well it's more about comfort then…"

"He said you guys made out, and eventually left early too." Ted interrupted him.

"Yes." There was no point in denying it. And other than a few weeks ago when Barney felt like intruding in Ted's territory by hanging out with Robin, he now didn't.

Ted just nodded, and both sat there for a minute before Ted finally broke the silence.

"I don't want to sound like a douche, and I am glad that she's doing better, but… it's weird."

So was this lunch, Barney thought sarcastically.

"I mean, I still don't get why she trusts you… don't get me wrong, you're my best bro, but you also tend to be an insensitive jerk who takes advantage of vulnerable women you know? After what happened, why would she cling to someone like you? Why would she put herself out there like that, blindly trusting you?"

Barney shrugged, "I don't know."

It was true; he sometimes wondered why Robin felt comfortable around him, especially in the beginning. They hadn't known each other that well, yet she had let him sleep in her bed within a week of that night.

"Anyways, I guess this thing between you is getting serious, and you are obviously doing something right given that Robin is fine in even the busiest places in the city as long as you are there with her, but I still need to say some things."

Barney nodded, and Ted took a deep breath before starting,

"Please don't hurt her further Barney… I know you aren't planning on it, but she's so fragile right now, and I am scared that you will get bored and move on eventually, leaving an even bigger mess behind."

"I am not going anywhere." Barney replied, he wanted to be mad at Ted for even suggesting he'd hurt Robin, but then he remembered that Ted used to date her, and that looking out for her was kind of his job.

Ted nodded, "it's just…"

His voice trailed off, and Barney thought that he could see tears in Ted's eyes.

"What?" He asked.

"I hate myself so much for letting this happen, you know? You got to know, you are probably feeling just as guilty as I am, but at least you can do something about it. At least you can be there for her, and comfort her. And least she's giving you the chance to make this right." Ted shrugged.

"You can be there for her too, you just got to stop treating her like this fragile person." Barney replied.

Ted shrugged, and they didn't talk for a few seconds.

"And fyi, I know the marrieds beg to differ, but Robin, and I are neither dating, nor in love. Everything, from holding hands to that kiss is about distraction, and comfort, nothing more." Barney clarified.

"Do you sleep with her?" Ted asked.

"In a bed, yes. Are we having sex, no."

Ted nodded, "have you tried it?"

"I am not making a move on her, why is this so hard to understand for everyone? We are roommates, and friends, nothing more."

"Well, you were also caught making-out in what Marshall describes a way that resembled dry-humping."

"What?" Barney asked surprised, "dude, that was not what that was."

"But I mean it's not that far fetched. She trusts you, if she's going to take that step with someone it's going to be with you."

"No. Ted, no. Robin, and I are friends! That's it, we will never hook up. Besides that would totally ruin our friendship. And, bro's never have sex with each other, it's in the bro code."

"But making-out is okay?" Ted challenged him.

"In special circumstances, and if it's not sexually motivated, then yes." Barney countered.

Ted laughed about it, "hey, another question, what are we going to do for Robin's birthday next week?"

Barney had completely forgotten that Robin's 28th birthday was coming up.

"I don't know…probably something at our place? I think she'd be most comfortable with that." He suggested.

"Probably, you should ask her, and let us know."

Barney nodded, still feeling a little guilty that he had completely forgotten about her birthday.

…

Robin had made lasagna for dinner, and the entire apartment smelled like it.

He realized that he liked coming home like this.

"How was your day?" Robin asked as she placed the breadsticks on the table.

"Good, Ted came by, and we ate lunch together." He explained while taking his tie off.

"Really?" Robin placed the lasagna on the table, and Barney started to serve the food.

"Yeah, he wanted to hear how you are doing. I guess Marshall, and Lily told him about the other night." He shrugged, "I explained to him that he has no reason to be jealous. How was your day?"

"You shouldn't have told him that." Robin replied.

"What?" Barney asked.

"I don't want him making a move on me, you know that."

"I don't think he will." He ensured her.

"Oh, you clearly don't know Ted, and the insane things he does when he is in love, and thinks he has a chance."

Barney shrugged, "let's just wait and see, okay? We can always lie about it if he really does get clingy."

Robin nodded, "right."

"So, how was your shopping tour?" He asked again.

"It was good, I just went to the little grocery store down the block."

"No panic attacks?" He made is sound as if he was asking about the weather.

She shook her head.

"Ted asked what we are doing for your birthday, I told him we'd probably have a get-together here. But obviously it's all up to you."

"I'd prefer if we just pretend it's a day like any other." She confessed.

"Oh come on Robin, it's your birthday, of course we will celebrate it. Pizza and a movie doesn't sound that bad, does it?"

She shrugged, "fine, but just the gang, okay?"

He nodded, "yeah. By the way, this food is delicious!"

It made her smile, "thanks."

…

Later in bed he gently stroke the area on her back where he had seen the bruise this morning.

Contemplating whether or not he should say something about it.

"Lily asked if we'll join them at McLarens tomorrow." Robin whispered.

"What did you tell her?" He asked, still drawing circles on her shoulder blade.

"That I'd ask you."

"Do you want to go?"

"Sure, why not?" she countered.

"Okay then," he pushed himself up, carefully so his weight wasn't on her, leaned across her, and gently kissed the area he had caressed a second ago.

"What are you doing?" she asked surprised.

"I don't know." He replied, as he let himself fall back onto his side of the bed.

She giggled.

He loved the sound of it, and decided to repeat his weird move once again.

"So what's this, a weird right shoulder blade fetish I should know about?" She asked.

He didn't answer, didn't really know how to answer.

"Barney?"

"Does it hurt?" He finally asked.

"Does what hurt?"

"The bruises, do they still hurt?"

He could literally hear her gasping.

"I… I am sorry." He mumbled, and attempted to put his arm around her again, but she pushed him off.

"Robin? I didn't mean to upset you." He tried again.

He heard her shuffle, and turned around to turn the light on.

She was sitting in bed now, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"I am sorry," he repeated.

"What the hell Barney?" She asked.

"I didn't mean…I noticed it this morning, and…"

"And what Barney? You thought it'd be a good way to make a move? After all kissing a girls bruises is a cute way to establish contact?" She challenged him.

"What? No! That's not… I wasn't even thinking when I did that, I just…dunno, thought it'd be good to talk about it?"

She pushed the comforter back, and got up, "I do not want to talk about any of the injuries, and I certainly don't want to talk about how I got them, okay?"

"Yes."

She wiped her face with her hand, and finally turned around, and left his bedroom.

Barney swallowed hard, and punched the mattress before getting up himself.

He found her in the kitchen, her back was turned towards him.

"I swear I wasn't trying to make a move Robin." He promised.

It took him a few more seconds to realize that she was crying, but once he did, he walked up to her, carefully placing his hands on her shoulders.

She didn't fight him, which encouraged him to let his hands wrap around her waist, pulling her gently into him.

"I am sorry." He whispered into her ear.

She went limb in his arms, crying harder now.

"I don't…want to…talk about….it." She repeated in-between sobs.

He nodded, "I know, and I am sorry for prying."

She just shook her head, clearly fighting to regain her composure.

Barney hesitated another second before turning her around, and picking her up. He brought her back in his bedroom, back into his bed, and finally back into his arms where she finally cried herself to sleep.

They didn't exchange another word that night.


	19. Day 19

Day 19

The alarm clock didn't wake Robin up, and so Barney decided not to do it either.

He wondered how last night got so out of control? He really hadn't meant to upset her, sure, he hadn't thought bringing the issue up through either, but he certainly hadn't meant to upset her.

She had made one thing very clear, no talking about that night, unless she brought it up herself. He could do that.

…

He had to work late, and waited in the cab for her. She scooted in next to him, and Barney gave the cabby the address of their favorite pub.

"How was your day?" He asked, barely looking at her.

"Okay. Yours?" She replied.

"Okay."

They didn't talk for the rest of the ride.

Barney had already reached the first step of McLarens when he felt her grab his arm, pulling him back.

"Barney wait…we need to talk…"

He turned around, and noticed that she was dressed down in a t-shirt, and jeans. She wasn't wearing any make-up either.

Seeing her like that hurt, because it meant that her day had been anything but good.

"Again, I am sorry if I freaked you out last night. That wasn't my intention."

"I know. I overreacted." She bit her lip.

"Let's just forget it happened, okay?" He asked.

Robin shook her head, and Barney couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"I want you to do these things Barney, like those kisses, that was really sweet. I don't want you to stop…touching me."

Barney could see how hard it was for her to say these things. He walked up to her and hugged her, "hey, nothing will change between us, huh?"

"Promise? Cause I don't think I can handle it if you start walking on eggshells around me like everyone else."

"I promise."

She nodded, and let go of him.

…

The others were already waiting for them when they entered the bar.

"Onion rings, nice. I am starving." Barney commented and grabbed a handful.

"We've already went ahead and ordered some burgers too. Hope that was okay?" Marshall asked.

"Burgers are always a good idea." Robin commented.

Carl came over, and asked them what they'd like to drink. Both Barney, and Robin ordered scotch.

"So Robin, Lily just talked about the big sale coming up this weekend, are you going shopping too?" Marshall asked.

"Nah." Robin waved him off.

"Oh come on, it will be fun. We could go out to Woodbury for some serious shopping." Lily jumped in.

"I don't really need anything."

"You should go." Ted said.

"Barney will go with us, right Barney?" Lily asked.

Barney shrugged, "sure."

"I'd rather stay in the city."

"We could all go! We'll rent a car, it'll be like a mini road trip." Ted suggested.

"Excuse me for a second?" Robin asked, and got up.

Barney watched her walking to the restroom, her eyes fixed on the floor the entire time.

"She really doesn't want to go," he said.

"Yeah but why? It's not even a mall." Ted asked.

"I will check on her." Lily got up.

The three guys sat there for a moment, "I think it's because of the money." Marshall suddenly said.

"What?" Barney asked surprised.

"She didn't want to go to the Broadway show either, but then Lily mentioned that she had gotten the tickets for free, and Robin was on board."

"That's ridiculous." Barney shook his head.

"I don't know, Marshall could be right. I mean she hasn't been working for a couple of weeks now, and she's gotten a lot of bills too. You know, from the hospital and stuff."

Barney swallowed, "she knows that she just needs to say something."

"Ms. Fiercely Independent? I doubt it." Ted said.

Barney just starred at his hands, he hadn't really thought about all that yet. Sure she didn't have to pay any rent, and he always covered for her when they were out, and about, but he'd never asked her if she needed anything else.

He certainly had never thought about the medical bills.

"Does she know about the bills?" Barney asked.

Ted nodded.

Barney noticed Lily and Robin exiting the bathroom and quickly leaned in, "don't mention it, okay?"

Robin scooted in the seat next to him, and he placed his arm around her shoulder, "did you change your mind? I think a shopping trip on Sunday would be nice."

Robin just shrugged.

Barney leaned closer, and whispered into her ear, "we could trick Ted into buying a totally ridiculous outfit."

But it didn't have the effect he was hoping for. So he gave it another try,

"I'll let you pick an outfit for me. Doesn't have to be a suit either."

"Are you serious?" Lily asked.

Barney nodded, "and I'll wear it too."

"Robin you got to say yes to that!" Marshall exclaimed.

Robin finally nodded, "okay."

Barney grinned, leaning closer to her again, "if you make me wear something Ted like I swear to God…"

Robin turned her head, and replied, "I was more thinking black pants with brown shoes."

"You wouldn't." He gasped.

She laughed, and all was good again.

…

They didn't get home until midnight, and Barney decided to think some more about it before bringing the money thing up.

"Your bed or mine?" He asked as he trailed behind her through the living room.

"Or would you rather sleep in separate beds tonight?"

Robin turned around, smiling, "your bedroom."

Barney grinned too, "why?"

"Your comforter is super comfortable." She explained.

"You know me, and fabrics." He countered.

She gave him another grin before disappearing into the bathroom.

Barney pulled his shirt over his head, and smiled. He was glad that things had gone back to normal so quickly.


End file.
